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The Results Of Sight & Sound's Greatest Films Of All Time Poll Are In! CITIZEN KANE Toppled From Number One!
Beaks here...
For decades, critics and cineastes of all stripes have been secure in the knowledge that Orson Welles's CITIZEN KANE is The Greatest Film of All Time. Today, Sight & Sound released the results of its critics poll, and now everyone has to get used to a new consensus number one.
According to 846 critics, academics, programers and distributors, Alfred Hitchcock's VERTIGO is a more masterful cinematic achievement than Welles's 1941 classic. It's not exactly a shocking reversal: VERTIGO ranked second on the 2002 list. But only 144 critics participated in that poll, so this is a broader consensus, and, seemingly, more definitive. Here's the critics' top ten:
1. VERTIGO (d. Alfred Hitchcock)
2. CITIZEN KANE (d. Orson Welles)
3. TOKYO STORY (d. Yasujiro Ozu)
4. THE RULES OF THE GAME (d. Jean Renoir)
5. SUNRISE: A SONG OF TWO HUMANS (d. F.W. Murnau)
6. 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (d. Stanley Kubrick)
7. THE SEARCHERS (d. John Ford)
8. MAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA (d. Dziga Vertov)
9. THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC (d. Carl Theodor Dreyer)
10. 8 1/2 (d. Federico Fellini)
All indisputably great films, and not a single one made before 1968. I'm surprised THE GODFATHER fell out of the top ten, and figured RAGING BULL, often heralded as the greatest movie of the 1980s, had a good shot at cracking the list. SINGING IN THE RAIN and BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN are the other two dropped from the 2002 list. If you're looking for more current titles, Sight & Sound also polled 358 filmmakers for their favorites. The 1970s are well represented here:
1. TOKYO STORY
2. 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY
3. CITIZEN KANE
4. 8 1/2
5. TAXI DRIVER (d. Martin Scorsese)
6. APOCALYPSE NOW (d. Francis Ford Coppola)
7. (tie) THE GODFATHER and VERTIGO
9. MIRROR (d. Andrei Tarkovsky)
10. BICYCLE THIEVES (d. Vittorio de Sica)
The full lists are available at the BFI's site, which isn't handling the flood of traffic all that well at the moment, so you might have to hunt around for the top fifty. The only pleasant surprise to me is Wong Kar-Wai's IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE landing at twenty-four. David Lynch's MULHOLLAND DR. is a bit of a shocker at twenty-eight; I guess it's finally overtaken BLUE VELVET as the filmmaker's official masterpiece (I would argue passionately that TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME is his greatest, which is but one reason S&S didn't solicit my opinion). It's also a largely humorless top fifty: there are only five films I'd classify as comedies.
So go check out the lists, and unleash your own top tens!
Readers Talkback
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That is all.
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Ok...I get the love these two films garner, but...really...who actually WANTS to watch either of them? Seriously. It's like being beaten with blunt objects for hours. On second thought...I don't get the love for Raging Bull OR Taxi Driver.
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Aug. 1, 2012, 2:23 p.m. CST
You mean they didn't put 'The Dark Knight' on this list!? Blasphemy!! I'll never trust a critic again!
by Kamaji
-as many on imdb would say.
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searchers shouldn't be top 10. that is ridiculous.
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Aug. 1, 2012, 2:26 p.m. CST
kells-- that is because you're a phillistine. The fact that Raging Bull isn't on here is bizarre.
by chifforobe
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LET'S EDIT SOME SHIT
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Aug. 1, 2012, 2:26 p.m. CST
Did anybody under 70 actually get to vote in this shit anyway?
by Bradly Durant
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Aug. 1, 2012, 2:28 p.m. CST
kells not sure if troll or just brainless. Probably both.
by Bradly Durant
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Boring, indulgent, unremarkable garbage. There's more wit in any five minutes of VERTIGO or 2001 or CITIZEN KANE.
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Aug. 1, 2012, 2:33 p.m. CST
Forget what happened in vertigo at the end. How great could it be? I must need my art spoon fed to me
by UltraTron
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Aug. 1, 2012, 2:36 p.m. CST
stifler's mom agreed 8 1/2 is a pretentious load of horse cum.
by Bradly Durant
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Aug. 1, 2012, 2:36 p.m. CST
Nary a mention of Rob Schneider's oeuvre? This is bullshit.
by Buck Turgidson
Two words: "The Animal."
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Also, God love The Searchers - - but if Scar is such a badass...then why does he sleep through a whole cavalry trumpeting through his village, with all the tribe screaming and horses thundering??
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Aug. 1, 2012, 2:40 p.m. CST
I vote Alien. Like being completely off earth. One of the most transportive experiences ever achieved. I just don't know how Vertigo makes that kind of impression.
by UltraTron
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Aug. 1, 2012, 2:41 p.m. CST
I mean any woody Allen is probably more poignant. Please someone frame this so I can understand the parameters of how this is being evaluated
by UltraTron
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Vertigo and Citizen Kane are really tied. I wonder if Kane being older hurt it with the critics under 40 years old. Also, British list-makers have a history of being different just for the sake of being different. Their was a poll commisioned and published by a british magazine of the best songs of the 1980's. #1 went to a song by a British act. The Police for "Every Breath You Take"? No. It was Dexys Midnight Runners for the song "Come on Eileen." -----later----m
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Aug. 1, 2012, 2:48 p.m. CST
I love Vertigo, I'd actually say it's one of my favorites
by Samuel Fulmer
But Kane's the better film. Very few issues I have with Kane. I think it's preaty close to being flawless, save for some acting here and there. Vertigo is amazing visually, has an even greater Bernard Herrmann score, but I don't know, the script has some serious issues, especially in the second half. Don't want to go into to many details, but the scene where a character is writing a letter comes to mind. Actually that character in general is preaty problematic in the second half of the film.
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Maybe it's just the Ozu asthetic, but I've just never really liked any of his films. Appreciate them yes, but not to the degree that I'd say they're the best ever.
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Profound disappointment...
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For the wedding sequence. Terrible John Ford humor that only really gelled in stuff like The Quiet Man. Give me the Wild Bunch anyday.
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Yeah that would actually be my number one.
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is a masterpiece.
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Until someone pointed out that it should be AFTER 1968? Observant bunch...
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I liked Prometheus more than Citizen Kane. Fact! Ok honestly I only watched 10 minutes of Citizen Kane then I turned it off.
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Whatever became of that poor, obsessed guy anyways?
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That makes me Wonder about The Credibility of This List.
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Aug. 1, 2012, 3:03 p.m. CST
You basement dwellers are knocking The Searchers and 8 1/2?
by Brian Hopper
Jesus Christ those are both great movies. Pull your heads out. That said, as much as I've come to adore and respect Vertigo -- certainly it belongs near the top of any list of greatest American films -- it is not a better film than Citizen Kane. (No film is.)
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the reason you dont see those films is because this isn't an AFI list , this list is for ALL FILMS from all over the world.
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wtf ...
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Aug. 1, 2012, 3:07 p.m. CST
Man With the Movie Camera is a great man on the streets experimental doc
by Samuel Fulmer
I like it, but top ten of all time??? Hell, if you're going to go with something Russian, how about an Eisenstein?
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ranked far too low on this list (both are masterpieces), it's cool that Apocalypse Now is ranked so high at #14... nice to see the level of appreciation for that work of genius continues to increase over the years.
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I think from an aesthetic standpoint it's probably Hitchcock's best, but I actually prefer Strangers on a Train, Rear Window, North By Northwest, Psycho, and The Birds.
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Not one made BEFORE 1968? Hello? Vertigo = 1958. Tokyo Story also in the 50s. 2001 was in the cinemas in 1968 - I know I was at our town's opening presentation. So ... 2001 being a good example of the 70s???
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Aug. 1, 2012, 3:13 p.m. CST
The interesting thing comparing this to something like the AFI list
by Samuel Fulmer
Is zero Spielberg.
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Not one made BEFORE 1968? Hello? Vertigo = 1958. Tokyo Story also in the 50s. 2001 was in the cinemas in 1968 - I know I was at our town's opening presentation. So ... 2001 being a good example of the 70s???
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Aug. 1, 2012, 3:14 p.m. CST
The Searchers is the definitive Western film, yes it deserves to be up there, (but maybe Top 15)
by kidicarus
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I guess they prompt discussion, but that is about the extent of their worth.
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Aug. 1, 2012, 3:19 p.m. CST
fulmer-- Raging Bull would be a reasonable #1-- every scene is a piece of art
by chifforobe
The rest of my biggies are mentioned here I think-- but how about a little Lynch or Herzog? They are better filmmakers than a lot of these folks, by my estimation.
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There will never be another quite like him.
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With Green Lantern slightly edging out Machete for number one.
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unfortunately, it's marred by the shitty Italian voice-over bullshit because their sound equipment sucked for dialogue.
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It shows San Francisco before it fell into hyper-liberalism. Jimmy Stewart rocks in the film. However, as good as Vertigo is, it is no CITIZEN KANE. Seriously.
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I wouldn't say any of these are bad films, but yeah, for me something like Blue Velvet would make it over The Searchers, or even Vertigo. Kane's the only one the critics picked that I would put in a top ten best (not to be confused with favorite) of all time.
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I can't abide this movie being hailed as a classic. NOSFERATU is Murnau's opus.
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It got picked more because people felt they had to put a silent on there, kind of like man with the movie camer (which is also silent) was probably the only documentary a lot of critics picked. I mean for me, I couldn't put a silent film in the top ten, but if I had to it would be Metropolis.
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Aug. 1, 2012, 3:32 p.m. CST
No because if it's stricly Owen Wilson movies then it's Drillbit Taylor
by Samuel Fulmer
And if it's talking dog movies, then it's Oh Heavenly Dog....oh wait they made a talking dog movie with Owen Wilson doing the voice of the talking dog....you're right.
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Should at least be in the top 5!
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Fucking sham!
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Even though both are high on my list of all-time favorite movies. Mulholland Drive’s more surreal approach to delivering existential horror was a bit more effective for me.
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Aug. 1, 2012, 3:35 p.m. CST
top 2 films- both fueled by the GENIUS of composer Bernard Herrmann
by Michael Lunney
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That movie has the most complex plot in *history*, with a freakin' TWIST ending, and has two of the greatest stars ever ... and the greatest bad guy in the past 50 years IMO. Strange that it and "Amadeus" get overlooked so often these days.
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Aug. 1, 2012, 3:35 p.m. CST
Contrary to belief, Harry Knowles has seen none of the movies on these two lists.
by Mr. Pricklepants
He's too busy watching crap like GREEN LANTERN and A SERBIAN FILM.
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Aug. 1, 2012, 3:38 p.m. CST
I've always kind of found Mulholland Drive overrated in the Lynch cannon
by Samuel Fulmer
No I don't think it's bad, but I prefer The Elephant Man, Blue Velvet, TP:Fire Walk with Me, Wild at Heart, and Inland Empire (which is really similar to MD, just even more out there).
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The Searchers is a masterpiece. I have no idea what you people havde against it. It also happens to be my #2 favorite movie of all time.
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That whole use of Herrmann's Vertigo at the end was preaty bad, maybe not the assault that Kim Novak proclaimed, but for me it just stuck out and reminded me of a far superior film. Kind of like what happened in Death Proof when Tarantino used that Donagio cue from Blow Out...I mean kind of dumb right, remind me that I could be watching a better film?
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Aug. 1, 2012, 3:42 p.m. CST
Always preferred North By Northwest and Psycho over Vertigo.
by openthepodbaydoorshal
But whatever title, Hitch deserves a top 10 selection, so I'll take Vertigo, I guess. But greater than Kane? Welles was so much in control of the medium, even moreso than Hitch, using every trick in the book and then some.
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Aug. 1, 2012, 3:43 p.m. CST
A list of this nature with out Casablanca is a list not to be trusted.
by Jungle Fish
Casablanca is the gem of movies. You can't talk good film without it. These fuckers have no cred.
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I just find it the worst kind of old timey sitcom trash, that it's placement in the film just knocks the film down a notch for me. Actually any scene between Vera Miles and Jeffery Hunter is preaty god awful, and yeah I get the whole see he can settle down, but Ethan can't dynamic. Don't get me wrong, I love that film, but I wouldn't put it anywhere near a top ten films of all time.
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Aug. 1, 2012, 3:47 p.m. CST
The thing with Casablanca is yes it is a truly great film
by Samuel Fulmer
But it's kind of lacking in an aesthetic level (which is what critics look at), plus it's director Michael Curtiz is seen more as a journeyman director than an artist by the critical establishment. I mean look at all the film that got picked here, they all have strong iconic directors behind them.
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sir ridley scott made it!!!! he's a master of cinema!!!! (30 years ago)
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Aug. 1, 2012, 3:47 p.m. CST
So, of course, this means a Vertigo reboot- starring Michael Cera and Miley Cyrus, yes?
by Michael Lunney
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Aug. 1, 2012, 3:49 p.m. CST
Am I alone with what I stated in an earlier post about Vertigo's script shortcomings
by Samuel Fulmer
Am I the only one that Finds the Kim Novak character, especially later in the film very problematic. I never really got the feeling that she really fell in love with the Stewart character and always found it kind of unbelieveable that she would go along with his makeover.
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This anything that came before Godfather is worthy of our kneeling shit has to stop. 2001 is a boring piece of crap that was a better book. Godfather is a true epic film. Kane and Vertigo are great, but Godfather is a pubic hair above them.
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Aug. 1, 2012, 3:51 p.m. CST
I mean if she was doing it strictly because he was paying her
by Samuel Fulmer
then I'd go with that, but then you have that whole terribly added scene of her writing a letter professing her love and guilt over what she did that just doesn't ring true.
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Star Wars from 1977, special edition from 1997, special edition from 2004, or special edition from 2011. That preaty much should tell you 2001 is better.
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I tend to be a fan of Lynch’s later, weirder movies. I think Lost Highway is underrated. His only movies that I found a little disappointing were Wild At Heart and Fire Walk With Me. Oh, and Dune, which I think was his only real miss. The Straight Story is actually also a great movie. If only he had directed a Lovecraft adaptation at some point.
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Then I agree!
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Aug. 1, 2012, 3:54 p.m. CST
As a Twin Peaks fan. Fire Walk with me is a giant disappointment.
by shutupfanboy
You have the entire cast there, just fucking end it. No one cares about the Blue Rose case and its hammered into the story like a square into around hole. I understand you think you have three films, but you got shit canned, what makes you think you are going to get more. At least film 3 scenes to save Dale. Jesus Christ, what a waste.
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...plain and simple. It's the best example of what a movie should be.
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Aug. 1, 2012, 3:56 p.m. CST
The only thing I love more than these Greatest Films of All Time lists...
by Knuckleduster
... is the fact that they're always changing. Man, it's fun talking about movies.
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Agree. Yeah I need to wath MD again. I guess for me having the knowledge that it started as a tv pilot makes me feel that a lot of the stuff in the film (like the hitman shooting the cleaning lady) just don't fit and maybe would've gone somewhere had it actually been a series. Just too many scenes like that that seem out of nowhere because they probably were meant to do somewhere as a tv show. Straight Story is a wonderful film, and probably Lynch's most underrated because it's rated G!!!
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Aug. 1, 2012, 4 p.m. CST
gunrunner-Yeah if they were going to add Spielberg to the list
by Samuel Fulmer
That would be the one I'd pick. The problem with preaty much any Spielberg film for a list like this is that they act more on emotion then intellect, which Spielberg having one of the most emotion over intellect canons of any filmmaker would make his exclusion totally understandable.
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Aug. 1, 2012, 4 p.m. CST
Inland Empire was three hours of utter confusion. WTF was going on in that movie?
by Mr. Pricklepants
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And should be in any top ten
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Aug. 1, 2012, 4:04 p.m. CST
But I don't know maybe the same could be said for overly intellectual directors too
by Samuel Fulmer
If you look at the list most of the picks do have a balance between hitting you emotionally as well as intellectually.
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Seriously. Best movie in the past 5 years.
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ok ok...full disclosure...i know its not a top-10 flick, but it is wildly underrated!!!
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In highschool when I was obsessed with film and film making I made a list of a hundred films I needed to see from the book A Short History of Film. I've seen just about every movie in the top 10 and have never watched them again since. 8 1/2 took the top spot for most agonizing viewing experience I have ever had. I think by the time I was in third year film school I was so thoroughly burnt out on slow burn movies that seemed to be about horrible people doing horrible things that lead to horrible consequences with the last ray of hope used to beat the characters into a horrible hopeless mess with no chance of escape; you know films that left you cold and empty and unnerved with life and alienated from feeling happy I realized I preferred "movies" to "films." Though the Third Man and Nosferatu and the Cabinet of Dr. Caligari still entertain me to this day so I suppose this long winded narcissistic rant is really saying one word: subjectivity.
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apparently one of the judges had a bad experience with a homemade twinkee-weiner-sandwhich and held it against the flick
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Aug. 1, 2012, 4:06 p.m. CST
Also, Harry Knowles would surely kill himself if one of Christopher Nolan's movies ever appeared on these lists.
by Mr. Pricklepants
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Big surprise--not a single film from the '70s, arguably the Golden Age of American cinema, and only 2 American directors on the list . From a British site? Noo--really??
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Aug. 1, 2012, 4:07 p.m. CST
Tokyo Story is the alternate title for Breaking II: Electric Boogaloo.
by threetoesoffury
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I love Vertigo, but I don't think it's anywhere near the top of the list. A very eerie supernatural thriller that turns out to be a rather preposterous and mundane murder mystery. I've always found Vertigo works best as a commentary on Rear Window, with Jimmy Stewart essentially playing the same character, but here he is properly delusional whereas in Rear Window he was astute. That's great and all, and I love when directors comment on their own films, but Rear Window is the better film, if only because it sets the conditions. North by Northwest is Hitch's best film, in my opinion, and Psycho is better than Vertigo.
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Aug. 1, 2012, 4:08 p.m. CST
suprised to see the mediocre keifer sutherland horror "mirrors" show up on the 2nd list
by threetoesoffury
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Aug. 1, 2012, 4:08 p.m. CST
To be honest, that list needs a major refreshment. No one can even relate to
by Santiago Charboneau
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What a dull film.
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Aug. 1, 2012, 4:10 p.m. CST
Garrr. Stupid aintitcool. What I was trying to say...
by Santiago Charboneau
Was that no one can relate to Those movies anymore. And the directors are pompous.
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Aug. 1, 2012, 4:10 p.m. CST
I would like to see Jacques Tati represented in the top 10
by Knuckleface
Playtime or Mr. Hulot's Holiday are both better than most of these films.
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This is the sort of thing that excites me.
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Aug. 1, 2012, 4:12 p.m. CST
mcgootoo-Oh yeah but I'm talking about the texting scene
by Samuel Fulmer
Music cue (Jack and Sally's theme) straight from Blow Out. Tarantino does that a lot, and usually I think it works, but in that case it made me pine for a far superior film.
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I'm with you mate.... but what you forgot to mention is that, whilst Knowles hasn't seen any of these films, he will pretend he has because anything otherwise would expose him as the philistine he really is. I've seen it countless times, Knowles referencing a classic movie he claims to love when, blatently, he has never seen the movie at all. His dvd review of arebecca is a great example of this.
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But hey, I also like 1941, Heaven's Gate, and The Black Dahlia.
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finding standing in a long line at the grocery store exciting.
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Aug. 1, 2012, 4:18 p.m. CST
samuel fulmer - yes, pining for a superior film, such as Village of the Giants!
by Michael Lunney
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Yeah Beau Bridges loin cloth gave a better performance then anybody in Death Proof.
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...as I knew it, maybe, "Hercules in New York." Sequel coming with Woody Allen writing and co-starring as Pretzie.
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...I cannot argue with any of the choices that I have seen (81/2, Man With a Movie Camera, 2001, Citizen Kane, & Vertigo). All masterful. Possibly even flawless. That said, I lean towards the director's list, if only because I've seen more of the films.
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Game. Set. Match. Directors.
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Aug. 1, 2012, 4:33 p.m. CST
I think I need to see Vertigo again because I don't really see it beating CK
by tangcameo
In fact you'd think North By Northwest would be a better Hitchcock film, or Rear Window.
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I watched it a few years ago and just not a good film. Maybe it was groundbreaking when it was released (maybe) but it sucks now.
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Aug. 1, 2012, 4:37 p.m. CST
You guys are on crack. Vertigo has always been considered Hitch's best.
by proevad
How can you not like Jimmy Stewart playing a creeper pervert? The dude is a sick fuck.
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Needs to be seen by more people. Yeah, the continuity errors are annoying as fuck, but any film that could make my granddad weep and go to his grave not hating the Japanese people for what some of Ozu's countrymen did to him, is a pretty good movie in my book.
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I'm sorry but that movie is extremely long and extremely boring. I simply don't get it. I'm a super film geek as well. Persona is one of the greatest experiences I've had in the cinema ever!!!! So, it's not like I'm not a movie snob or anything. My List would be(off the top of my head): Taxi Driver The Shinning Persona Rosemary's Baby Halloween Aliens Rear Window Apocalypse Now(the long version too) Pulp Fiction Blow Out Dazed and Confused Blade Runner So, it's 12 who cares...
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Aug. 1, 2012, 4:41 p.m. CST
oh, yeah and Citizen Kane. It really is a fucking badass film no matter what year it is!!! ANd F for Fake which is mind-blowing!!!
by MainMan2001
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Given that we are all a bit ego-disoriented in thinking that anybody cares what some pseudonym posts about cinema, I'm still always astounded by the "Dude, [movie x not on the list that the commenter really likes] is better than [movie y on the list]. I mean, it just is" school of argumentation. It generally only works under physical duress, not on a board with other malcontents.
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Bah.
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the archetype for the psychological thriller. So ahead of its' time!
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It's the best movie ever made. )lol(
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1. Citizen Kane 2. GoldenEye 3. Independence Day 4. The Dark Knight 5. White Heat 6. Dr. Strangelove 7. Pet Sematary 8. No Country for Old Men 9. The Lion King 10. The Avengers
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.... of the Channing variety
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Aug. 1, 2012, 5:04 p.m. CST
Sometimes you can read the ballots. Back in '02 I remember John Waters' - it included "Faster Pussycat Kill Kill Kill." Ebert put "Tree of Life" on his this year.
by ChaunceyGardiner
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Fuck those fags. Both of these movies are better than half that shit, especially the overrated Hitchcock crap.
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Aug. 1, 2012, 5:09 p.m. CST
There is nothing more illegitimate and invalid than "consensus".
by TheyPeedOnYourFuckingRug
I really could not care less what 846 critics, academics, programmers and distributors want to tell me is the "best" of anything. And I love Vertigo.
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Seven Samurai Citizen Kane 2001 Apocalypse Now The Godfather I and II Taxi Driver Tokyo Story The Good the Bad and the Ugly 8 1/2 The Seventh Seal honorable mention next 10: Casablanca Treasure of the Sierra Madre Rashomon Jaws Star Wars Amarcord Battleship Potemkin The General Raging Bull The Searchers It's my list dammit! But I stand by it
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Aug. 1, 2012, 5:14 p.m. CST
Art is subjective, to each his own, this list means nothing to me..
by ganymede3010
That's why these best lists have to be quantified according to the time period, genere and the targeted demographic at the least.
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Aug. 1, 2012, 5:15 p.m. CST
Art is subjective, to each his own, this list means nothing to me..
by ganymede3010
That's why these best lists have to be quantified according to the time period, genere and the targeted demographic at the least.
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Aug. 1, 2012, 5:29 p.m. CST
I agree that no top ten (of American films especially) is complete without Casablanca.
by Brian Hopper
It's true that Curtiz was something of a journeyman, but he performed well beyond is capabilities and Casablanca is not without its significant aesthetic accomplishments. There is scarcely a film that embodies film as a medium that is truly a collaboration among artists and craftspeople than Casablanca. You can feel it from the first frame... script, actors, cinematography, music, direction, editing, lighting etc etc. Everyone performing at a VERY high level and all coming together to create a kind of jointly-created masterwork. I think Casablanca is sometimes given a little less consideration because it's such a joy to watch.
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is the only bad thing about Kane
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Sometimes I wonder what planet I'm on when I read shit like that. An endlessly brilliant film.
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is one of the best things about Kane.
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Muholland Drive, In The Mood For Love, Santantango, Close-Up, Histoire du cinema...aaaaaand that's it. Way to fuck up again, geriatrics.
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Aug. 1, 2012, 5:38 p.m. CST
Mr. Fuller, I've included some discussion of "Vertigo" within this post:
by ChaunceyGardiner
I think one of the key elements to understanding the events that transpire in the last third of "Vertigo" is in the analysis of what kind of woman Kim Novak's Judy is. First off there is the strong suggestion that she had some kind affair with Gavin Elster. That isn't the reason that she helped in covering up Madeleine's murder but I do believe that her inability to say "no" to men is a large part of her problem. When Scotty finds her she is just as cheap as she ever was - she lives in a bad part of town, the neon light of the marquee for the "rooms for a week or a night" style establishment in which she lives clicking on and off incessantly like some hypnotic inticement to the moths whose lives these people's lives resemble. If Judy prospered from her involvement in Elster's murder scheme there is little evidence; she remains a sad and, despite her hard exterior, seems dependent upon a man's love for meaning. When Scotty first follows her, trying to convince her to stay in what is his admittedly deranged and broken company, Judy tells us in a small piece of dialouge a clue as to the live she has led. She says that "since she was a little girl" men had always showed an interest in her. Hitchcock is known for breaking barriers (especially if you have some knowledge of the history of cinema and the various ratings systems over the years and know of Hitch's legacy, for good and for ill - I still disagree strongly with the visual fetishism of "Frenzy") and "Vertigo" is a good example of how he would work extremely mature themes into his closely-scrutinized films. For me, Judy is a woman terrorized by her early maturation, by the advances of men on a woman who learned at a young age that her sexuality was all she needed to be loved, if only for moments. Scotty might be the only good man who has ever loved her - which is why the split in the two halves of the picture is so important. Scotty loved her, but when she was another woman. When he loves her as Judy it is due to her malleability, the formlessness that she so often allows herself to be, to conform to the desires and whims of her lovers. Of course, this means that she is not a strong female character, something of which is not the style these days or even something we can empathize with. And yet, Scotty is as equally flawed: we see the remnants of what was a good man, and we see in Judy the beginnings of what may be a good woman. And yet the trap of the past will not let them go. It is why the film is such a grand romantic tragedy - in tragedies our heroes seem compelled to destroy themselves, despite the love, affection, hope that we feel for them. In short, Judy is a woman with a history of being used. Scotty is a man deeply clinging to a future once hoped for, a fantasy that never came true. The events that led them to their present situation are the events that will destroy them: they are like broken halves of a sad and lamentable whole. There is hope for them, and yet their obsession with the past will not allow them to live past the sins they feel they have committed. Desperately they are trying to undo a past that will not be undone - only through the realization of their selves, their dependence upon something that does not exist and never did, will they defy the gravity of fate that drives them to their mutually assured destructions. Scotty wants justice and she wants forgiveness when what they want is essentially the same: to be loved. Scotty wants so desperately to be a hero and Judy so much to be saved that she fears it: together they merely want to escape the past they feel has damned them. They seem stuck in the past as assuredly as Madeleine's life is contained within the rings of that swath of a redwood tree. (And apparently the script on which the film is based is extremely odd and convoluted, much more so than the film itself.) Instead of the pedigree of its plot, I think that what is essential for "Vertigo" as a film is the emotional undercurrent of it. The emotions are dark and grand ones, as old and ancient and primal as any shadow play, opera, or greek theatre. There is an emotional truth to "Vertigo" that scurtiny of plot contrivances might take us away from. I saw "Vertigo" as an 11-year-old and it stands for me one of the singular pictures of my existence. I have adopted it over the years, made it my own. One of the most beautiful and sad and haunting films ever made.
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Aug. 1, 2012, 5:39 p.m. CST
This feels like a hipster film student masturbation list...
by Melanie Griffiths Sour Patch
...seriously, this list reads like the movies you're supposed to love instead of actually love. I do love Vertigo, but it's not the greatest film of all time. I easily prefer Rear Window to Vertigo. That The Godfather doesn't top this list and Raiders of the Lost Ark doesn't make this list tells me just about everything I need to know. Movies don't have to be soul crushing and difficult to be great. I'm surprised they didn't put that piece of shit Pi by Aronofosky on there as that would have fit in with the tone of this list.
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Aug. 1, 2012, 5:40 p.m. CST
"Derzu Ursula" would be on this list for me. Doesn't even feel like that film was made in the traditional sense - it is much more like an element of nature. Amazing film.
by ChaunceyGardiner
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Not even in their top 50
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Any would do. <p> I guess Ozu's close enough for now
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Aug. 1, 2012, 5:52 p.m. CST
Blasphemy! It should have been The Dark Knight!
by Turd_Is_Floating_Underneath_The_Gravy
Or anything by Christopher Nolan! Oh, wait...I'm not fifteen years old and have actually seen films pre-Star Wars, so I guess not....
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Aug. 1, 2012, 5:53 p.m. CST
David Lynch on an all-time top 10 list? What a freaking joke.
by golden tribw
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regardless if it isn't your cup of tea, it's one of the best films of the 80's
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It's a good movie no doubt, but better than "Citizen Kane?" Fuck that! I'm guessing they dropped Kane because they wanted a new champion. Too bad they replaced it with not even Hitchcock's best film. What a disappointment. Far superior films exist out there that aren't even on the list. Where the FUCK is "Lawrence of Arabia?" LAME!!!!!!
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To add more scenes to 2001 would be to add more boredom.
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Aug. 1, 2012, 6:03 p.m. CST
Regardless, these top film lists are usually nothing but empty parlor games and relatively worthless...
by Turd_Is_Floating_Underneath_The_Gravy
You can almost hear the compilers' gears turning:"Ah, let's not have Citizen Kane as the best film in the 2012 poll. Let's give something else the top spot this year just to mix it up...and throw in a few wild cards or obscurities as well, just to create some controversy." Doesn't really tell you much about cinema, and never did.
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at some point you just keep watching hoping at some point it will give you something so you don't feel like you just wasted 3 hours watching it.
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No Spielberg? No Tarantino? No Coen Brothers? BTW, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me was the only movie in my life I ever walked out on.
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Aug. 1, 2012, 6:11 p.m. CST
who's gonna break the news to Carrot Top that "Chairman of the Board" didnt make the cut????
by threetoesoffury
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Aug. 1, 2012, 6:13 p.m. CST
Citizen Kane always takes the top spot because of its pioneering technique, not its content...
by Turd_Is_Floating_Underneath_The_Gravy
Which is why I've always been dubious about its dinosaurian entrenchment as "the greatest film ever made". The film essentially hinges on a droll joke...it's the most artful shaggy dog story ever filmed. I think even Welles was baffled by its deification, and said so in his later years.
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Aug. 1, 2012, 6:13 p.m. CST
regrettably the new workprint of "Manos the Hands of Fate" was discovered just after Sight and Sounds voting.
by threetoesoffury
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Aug. 1, 2012, 6:14 p.m. CST
Editors Note: the version of "Vertigo" listed above is actually Gus Van Sants shot-for-shot remake staring Dwane the Rock Johnson
by threetoesoffury
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I'll have to watch it again with some of what you brought up in mind. Like I said before I always thought the film was amazing on an artistic level, I just have always had trouble with the post nightmare/catatonic section.
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cause the reporters, they're talking about Rosebud, asking the question, what's it mean . . . but he's alone, man, there's no one there to hear him say it.
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Aug. 1, 2012, 6:21 p.m. CST
On the criterion cast sight a guy wrote about the Kane thing
by Samuel Fulmer
And actually said some people who knows actually prefer The Magnificent Amersons. Are these people are some kind of drugs??? I mean, yeah it's good up until the last 20 minutes which even if you didn't know the film was taken out of Welles hands and totally re-shot and a shitty happy ending was tacked you would think some strange shit that totally went agains the previous 68 mintues was going on. The only film that Welles made that I would even put in the same category as Kane would be Touch of Evil. Ambersons is the greatest example of horrible studio meddling.
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....but the omissions from that list are to fucking huge to ignore. Meh.
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Maybe they heard Kane? That's what I always thought.
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Aug. 1, 2012, 6:26 p.m. CST
I could argue Robocop over any of these but the criterion summery stands true.
by UltraTron
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Not just a bunch of stuck up film snobs who have to say the same movies or else other film snobs won't have any respect for them? The only movie that holds up on that list is 2001. Kane and Vertigo are NOT better then Godfather/Taxi Driver/Raging Bull. I could care less what it did for movies at the time or whatever bullshit answer you snobs give me, watch it plus the 3 I listed and tell me it's more engaging, better acted, written or anything because IT IS NOT.
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What the FUCK? Vertigo is a good movie for sure, but once you know the conceit, that's really it. It's the Sixth Sense of its day. Better than Citizen Kane or The Godfather? Get the fuck out of here. That's ridiculous.
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Your comment gave me a boner. Please continue being awesome. Fucking Jurassic Park should be on one of these god damn lists too.
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Everybody's got AIDS n' shit!
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Aug. 1, 2012, 6:47 p.m. CST
Ultratron - I didn't mention it, but "Vertigo" is one of the most beautiful colour films ever. In a way, reminds me of a Philip Marlowe story or "Chinatown" meets "Suspiria."
by ChaunceyGardiner
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... because they are fucking retarded and can't even get the name of the film right. So, yeah you are definitely still Earth bound.
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MD and IE are not really that similar. They actually have stories, and are not just random symbolic images. If you pay attention you will see that they have very little in common other than both have characters in the film industry. One is a cynical view of Hollywood dreams, the other is about a cursed movie.
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Aug. 1, 2012, 6:58 p.m. CST
Ozu movies are so boring just thinking about them made me fall asleep twice just writing this sentence.
by Cornholio3000
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-YET?
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Good film, yes. Interesting. VERY dated. Better than 'Seven Samurai', 'Lawrence of Arabia'? Ridiculous.
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Magnificent Ambersons, F for Fake, Chimes at Midnight, The Trial. But KANE is a relentlessly entertaining and inventive film
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Sue Me. I think that's one of the best movies ever made. I like all the movies on this list (the ones I've seen anyways) but I think that maybe some of you are right...we're kind of obligated to say these are the best ever...not that they aren't amazing...
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Aug. 1, 2012, 7:17 p.m. CST
shutupfanboy, your anti2001 argument is dead from the start
by trevanian
when you say the novel is better. Clarke is a tremendous SF writer -- probably 75% responsible for instilling a sense of wonder in me and countless others -- and there are a few really good chapters with fascinating speculation in the book, but the guy couldn't write a character to save his life. Not that there are many interesting characters in 2001 anyway, but what makes Kubrick's 2001 so awesome -- or in YOUR case, so boring -- ain't gonna be a conventional dramatic element you or Clarke or anybody else can cliffnote or novelize. THAT FILM IS ITS OWN THING, so comparing it with Clarke's prose isn't applicable ... it is more extreme than apples and oranges ... more like the difference between daffodils and antimatter.
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I love some of the films on this list, but honestly, that's not even close to my top ten. What about a film like "The Shawshank Redemption," the highest rated film ever on Rotten Tomatoes that constantly gets overlooked by critics for "Best Film" lists because it's too... what, pedestrian? New? Full of timeless drama and power? Not to disparage any of the above films at all, especially "Vertigo," a beautifully twisted story I've loved for years, but given the chance, I'd watch "Shawshank" over most films on that list any day of the week. It's got some of the greatest acting performances I've ever seen, period. Some of the most beautiful Deakins-in-his-prime scenes ever filmed, too. It's a work of great modern art that I feel is usually relegated to lesser film status because it's based on a Stephen King story. And also because it's... well, new. Can't have new films being considered "great," can we? But, I mean... who really fucking cares about top ten lists anyway?
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I love some of the films on this list, but honestly, that's not even close to my top ten. What about a film like "The Shawshank Redemption," the highest rated film ever on Rotten Tomatoes that constantly gets overlooked by critics for "Best Film" lists because it's too... what, pedestrian? New? Full of timeless drama and power? Not to disparage any of the above films at all, especially "Vertigo," a beautifully twisted story I've loved for years, but given the chance, I'd watch "Shawshank" over most films on that list any day of the week. It's got some of the greatest acting performances I've ever seen, period. Some of the most beautiful Deakins-in-his-prime scenes ever filmed, too. It's a work of great modern art that I feel is usually relegated to lesser film status because it's based on a Stephen King story. And also because it's... well, new. Can't have new films being considered "great," can we? But, I mean... who really fucking cares about top ten lists anyway?
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Couldn't agree more. FIRE WALK WITH ME is an absolutely brilliant visual and aural experience that just has to be seen in 35mm. BLUE VELVET, WILD AT HEART, ERASERHEAD, and THE ELEPHANT MAN are all much, much better films than MULHOLLAND DR.
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Fuck that shit!! "Shane" bitches!!
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Aug. 1, 2012, 7:24 p.m. CST
No Pulp Fiction, Figt Club, Three Kings, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas=FAIL
by kindofabigdeal
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Aug. 1, 2012, 7:26 p.m. CST
Part of "Vertigo"'s prominence is due to the fact that it is easily one of Hitchcock's most personal films. Added to this is the fact that many of these critics subscribe to auteur theory, having been around during its conception. It is a definitive Hit
by ChaunceyGardiner
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Aug. 1, 2012, 7:26 p.m. CST
Crap, I bet that cut me off, "It is a definitive Hitchcock film."
by ChaunceyGardiner
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'First Goddamn week of winter'.
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Aug. 1, 2012, 8:28 p.m. CST
Letter scene in Vertigo was Hitchcock's addition, it's not in the book
by MGTHEDJ
He did it to make the audience squirm and to be creeped out by what the character Scotty was doing with the makeover.-----later-----m
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It's a beautiful film, but the story is basically about two people's twisted relationship. And it doesn't have a fraction of the technique of Kane. Citizen Kane encompasses a whole life, as well as the vast sweep of society, in its super-inventive scope. It contains countless iconic images and classic edits, and the fact that 25-year-old Welles plays an utterly convincing 50-year span of Kane's life is itself a tour-de-force unmatched by anything in Vertigo. I love Hitchcock, but there's just no way Vertigo can even approach Citizen Kane.
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Aug. 1, 2012, 8:34 p.m. CST
Lots of jumps up the list, disappearances, etc. LAWRENCE, THIRD MAN, others gone
by Monty Cristo
I did an extensive rundown over on my site: http://arthousecowboy.com/journal/2012/8/1/sight-sound-2012-ozu-murnau-and-vigo-vertov-wong.html Ozu and Murnau jumping into the top 10, and the Vigo and Vertov movies appearing out of nowhere were welcome additions. Anyone else notice that movies like LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, THE THIRD MAN, and GRAND ILLUSION, among various other standouts, are totally missing??
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Aug. 1, 2012, 8:37 p.m. CST
Actually a decent copy considering it's on youtube. Tokyo Story. Full Film.
by proevad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_gUIxeEIFw
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his most perfect film, aside from maybe Strangelove or Paths of Glory. But those both have a moment or two that are 'off' as well. If you put aside what Nicholson did in The Shining and just accept it and DON'T see his over-the-top performance as a flaw, then I also think The Shining is damn near perfect. That said, I can't believe The Godfather, Raging Bull (a perfect film, more perfect than The Godfather, I think), and Lawrence of Arabia aren't up there. I also think Midnight Cowboy is better than most of the films on the list. I DO like seeing Hitchcock getting major love by having his film rank #1... I went through a period where I thought I was too smart for his output, that maybe his films were shallow, but the older I get, the more I think he's the one true genius of the art form. I actually think it's HIS films that represent pure form... not Kubrick, not Kurosawa, not Fellini or anyone else (and I know this sounds like film student bullshit, but wtf, I believe it and stand by it). Really, though, any list like this is just a masturbatory excuse for an argument.
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Breathless I can see, but Pierrot le Fou and Contempt? I like them both (and Godard generally), but that's all a bit much. I mean, where's Chinatown? Best Years of Our Lives? Rome Open City? Blade Runner? and others. Still, big thumbs up for the high level of appreciation for Apocalypse Now and for the international flavor of the list, which in general is a really good list of films. (That's all these lists are good for, anyway: hopefully, it's gets people to see and appreciate some of these films.)
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I forgot about Lawrence and The Third Man yeah they should be in everyone's top 10
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...and Vertigo just leaped ahead about 4 years ago...in my mind. Without a doubt the film I've watched the most times (25-30). Love dark Stewart and his sad, selfish obsession. ...along with the memory of the 'sad Carlotta'.
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A truly great film, but 'smaller' than Kane and can't really even be compared to it. On the level of technique alone, Kane hasn't really even been surpassed yet and it's been over 70 years since it was made. It feels more modern and fresh than most current movies IMHO.
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don't get me wrong , I like Shawshank Redemption, but it IS a bit saccharine in it's overall mood. The performances are good yes and the story interesting. But it's just got too much of a TV Movie of the Week mood for the subject matter. It's a very good movie. but I don't think it is a great movie.
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Aug. 1, 2012, 10:09 p.m. CST
SK229, it is amazing what Hitchcock was able to get across with just silence. The descent down the staircase in "Notorious" is an example of elevation of the commonplace to the soaring and epic.
by ChaunceyGardiner
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All of the above. Ooh. Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead is on. SWEET!
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Aug. 1, 2012, 10:15 p.m. CST
And then Tati gives us the piece of cake that is that wonderfully idyllic ending sequence at the lounge in "Playtime," like a reward.
by ChaunceyGardiner
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Aug. 1, 2012, 10:17 p.m. CST
Does anyone really love John Ford's "The Last Hurrah" with Spencer Tracy. Makes a great American counterpart to "Ikiru."
by ChaunceyGardiner
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Aug. 1, 2012, 10:18 p.m. CST
(That sounded like a sarcastic statment. I meant it with a (?) and not the weird thing that it currently is.
by ChaunceyGardiner
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Aug. 1, 2012, 10:26 p.m. CST
Speaking of the profound effect of silence, three Dreyers on the top 50 list (thanks MontyCristo).
by ChaunceyGardiner
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Anyone excited other than me that this beautiful film is in the list?
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...is ever changing, ever evolving. I would include at least 10 Stanley Kubrick films on there. 2001 is definitely a great achievement and deserves to be on the list. I can never whittle my favourites down to 10 anyway. I just like too many films. Maybe I could list 10 directors, that might be easier for me. Kubrick, Scorcese, Coppola(the early years) Spielberg (the early years), Malick, Tarantino, P.T Anderson, Hitchcock...those are the common choices. I recently saw Faster, Pussycat, Kil, Kill for the first time. Great fun...I'm rambling...
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Seriously, WTF?? That movie is a common favorite among so many people, and IMDB's #1 movie of all time. How did it not make it in the top 50?
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like I always do.
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Aug. 2, 2012, midnight CST
What?! Where's Inception? Dark Knight Rises? No Nolan in the Top 50? How is that even possible???
by hank henshaw
Those fuckers!
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Screw lists except mine.
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Aug. 2, 2012, 12:38 a.m. CST
These greatest lists never work, it's not one size fits all
by mister death
Wash, rinse, debate. There is no Gone With The Wind? There is no Wizard of Oz? There is no Spartacus? Or Ben Hur? And comedy is always off the table like Duck Soup, Blazing Saddles. Umph...
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I'm gonna fucking shooooooooot.....I shot.
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Aug. 2, 2012, 1:35 a.m. CST
Rear Window is better than Vertigo in every possible way
by Adelai Niska
Also, It's too bad critics will happily fawn over Hollywood hits of the black & white age while ignoring recent Hollywood blockbusters. Raiders, Jaws, Alien, Die Hard, Pulp Fiction, etc all contain as much if not more artistic value and SKILL as Hollywood movies from the 1940s or French movies of the 1960s-70s. I met a guy once who told me his fave movie ever was Shoot the Piano Player. I told him I liked the films of James Cameron, and that my all-time fave was Lumet's 12 Angry Men. Mr. French New Wave actually moved away from me like I had Ebola or something.
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Aug. 2, 2012, 4:31 a.m. CST
Citizen Kane is THE GREATEST MOVIE OF ALL TIME, PERIOD... and anyone with a Speilberg or Lucas film in their top 10 are fucking retarded
by antonphd
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if you are an adult and you don't get Citizen Kane... you are one seriously dense mother fucker. i mean... you are Tera Reid stupid as fuck.
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Aug. 2, 2012, 4:36 a.m. CST
if you can't respect the movies on this list... the line for the Total Recall remake is right over there
by antonphd
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The Searchers is better than 2001. 2001 is perfect, but it has no soul. And the Best Movie Ever is The Quiet Man.
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Everyone's mileage may vary, and particular mood at the time I was asked. There are certainly times I'd rather watch Animal House or Dumb & Dumber than anything on this list, for example. Or Die Hard. Or, yes, The Avengers. Might help if I'd actually seen more than 2 of their Top Ten, I guess.
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City Lights at #50, and that's the best he can get? This list should at least have The Gold Rush, The Kid and Modern Times on there, including City Lights.
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By then most of the old line critics that revere the usual suspects will probably be dead, and my guess is the top 10 will actually have more films made post 1970. Kane had a 40 year grip on the number one spot, I don't see Vertigo lasting that long.
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'nuff said.
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It's an important film because it finally showed a dark side and some grey areas to the Western hero and that closing shot is as good as any image ever put on screen--but an hour of it is fucking annoying romantic/comedic drivel. I will never understand how defenders of that movie just seem to overlook that.
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Aug. 2, 2012, 8:42 a.m. CST
samuel fulmer - I hope what you say isn't true- that would mean that *new line* critics don't watch the older, superior films
by Michael Lunney
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It filled with some of the greatest moments in cinema, but also some of the most inane.
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Aug. 2, 2012, 8:45 a.m. CST
Now that it looks like the whole Hitchcock Hedron possible sex harrassment
by Samuel Fulmer
I being made into an HBO movie, I wonder if that'll affect Hitch's future standing in the Left Wing Inteligentsia that makes up the filmic critical community.
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The younger generation (ones who are 45 and younger) don't have the same revereance for a lot of the films on the list. I'm not saying these films are bad, I just think that younger people may have more of an open mind to including say a Raging Bull or Godfather in the top ten.
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Aug. 2, 2012, 9:18 a.m. CST
Harry's List...Speed Racer, Phantom Menace, Ghost Rider
by StatelyWayneManor
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Aug. 2, 2012, 9:23 a.m. CST
Harry's list would include a movie that doesn't come out until next year
by Samuel Fulmer
Like his year end lists always do.
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Aug. 2, 2012, 9:24 a.m. CST
BFI Sight & Sound mag names BFI event headlining film as greatest ever.
by Lampers
Coincidence? Yes, Superman and Clark Kent just look REALLY similar.
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They did write a full lenght book analysis of Groundhog Day!
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Aug. 2, 2012, 9:51 a.m. CST
CUERVO - it is the human characters in 2001 who seem to have nohave no soul --
by trevanian
which obviously is part of the point of the thing. The movie has a pretty undeniable soul (and I'd argue that for HAL as well ... I almost with Anthony Perkins had voiced the computer, so folks could start analyzing Welles' THE TRIAL for guilt correlations with 2001's supercomputer), else it wouldn't resonate so well with those it does (any more than a soulless vfx fest like, say EVENT HORIZON.)
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I agree with feralangel: why isn't Wizard of Oz on this top 50 list? It seems they went with only arthouse-type movies. Wizard of Oz isn't just a popcorn flick.
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Aug. 2, 2012, 10:30 a.m. CST
I don't know the criteria - but the Godfather is my choice
by FrodoFraggins
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Aug. 2, 2012, 10:31 a.m. CST
Do critics honestly believe that what they think, actually matters?
by Zappatude
Seriously? How can art be a competitive sport with rankings and such non-sense? Doesn't artistic greatness transcend rankings? Critics are a self-realized, useless sub-segment of commercial entertainment. Nothing more...and mostly less. This is dumb. And if you think what these self-important leeches write actually counts, you are dumb, too.
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published criticism on a site as a critic? Even in that small post?
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Aug. 2, 2012, 11:40 a.m. CST
Now that I think about it there's more films I should've considered
by Kyle DeMattio
1. Scarface 2. Goodfellas 3. Night of the Living Dead (color version) 4. Casino 5. Speed
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George Burns pulled double duty, 'nuff said!
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The distinction between criticizing/ranking ART, and discounting the importance of said criticism should be inherently obvious. I'm sorry if it's not for you.
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Aug. 2, 2012, noon CST
zappatude - all the billions of people who do appreciate and read and gained a deeper understanding from film criticism and analysis should bow their heads in shame, because this guy is so much smarter than the intellectually curious
by Michael Lunney
zappatude - all the billions of people who do appreciate and read and gained a deeper understanding from film criticism and analysis should bow their heads in shame, because this guy is so much smarter than the intellectually curious. Can you please teach all of us dumb people how to be better people?
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Aug. 2, 2012, 12:09 p.m. CST
chaunceygardiner - you are the man! From your posts, it seems that you have a deep appreciation for superior filmmaking, and know greatness when you see it. Did a film critic ever grant you deeper appreciation with their writing?
by Michael Lunney
Did a film critic ever grant you deeper appreciation with their writing? I used to write film reviews for a living. Yes, I was paid to write reviews. A good, analytical critic will have the info and details that you may not have noticed, and with their insight you may gain a deeper appreciation for a film that you were ready to dismiss, but through another's insight are more fully able to appreciate more aspects of a film. Like a good teacher openiing your eyes to something for the first time...
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Writing about film from an analytical perspective, in order to explore the depth of a filmmaker is one thing (and not what Film Critics do, by and large). Ranking films (or any type of art, for that matter) in a manner usually reserved for celebrity tabloids or sports, is ridiculous. If this isn't obvious to you, then I believe you're question has been answered.
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Aug. 2, 2012, 12:53 p.m. CST
zappatude - you must read all the wrong critics- the only thing obvious to me is your sense of smug superiority, and your obvious lack of understanding of what the best film critics do- have fun in your ivory tower...
by Michael Lunney
and leave the reading of film criticism and the silliness of film rankings to all of us dumb people thank you sir.. Have a nice day!
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Robocop should be #1. Empire Strikes Back should be #2. Really... Like the Academy Awards no pure comedies are given any credit. And as if Memento shouldn't be on this list. Somebody needs to put these critics to rest. They lack balls. As Clarence put it "safe, geriatric, coffee table b.s." Speaking of which, I'd watch True Romance over any one of those movies.
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Aug. 2, 2012, 2:36 p.m. CST
zappatude - you miss the point of this list. it's to expose new generations to great films and keep great films from being forgotten over time.
by antonphd
the horse race element is just a bit of fun. don't take it too seriously. the POINT is to remember great films. not just the films on this list, but the films you think SHOULD be on the list. somebody has to preserve and protect film as an art form other wise it gets reduced to commercial value and THAT is something to get angry about
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Vertigo is obviously great, but it's no KANE. Kane changed everything. Vertigo is undoubtedly absorbing and highly influential as well, but it's really not even a close second.
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Aug. 2, 2012, 3:54 p.m. CST
kildeer1 - you sound like you need to take a good shit, you sound so uptight- Who the fuck do they think they are? People with greater cultural taste than you, apparently
by Michael Lunney
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even really good film ESSAYISTS (not reviewers, per se) like Harlan Ellison come out with lists of the 10 directors that really matter (I think there are 11 or 12 people on it, but only a RainMan type would carp about that.)
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Aug. 2, 2012, 4:36 p.m. CST
kildeer1 - well, for starters, thery don't need to say fuck 3 times in 2 sentences to express a thought. And your thoughts are barely coherent through your sense of anger.
by Michael Lunney
I don't agree with the entire list, but it's just a list- you can make your own. And yes, maybe you are film savvy, but your words haven't expressed it here. I apologize if I was out of line, but yes, lists are designed to get people to watch films they might not otherwise even know about. Take it or leave it. - no bigee.. Rock on sir.
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Aug. 2, 2012, 4:44 p.m. CST
even Iceland- ever see the Jar City, for example? superb...
by Michael Lunney
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Aug. 2, 2012, 5:02 p.m. CST
sirgarycoleman - All Leone is excellent.... even Colossus of Rhodes- ever see the full length version of Once Upon a Time in America?
by Michael Lunney
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Aug. 2, 2012, 5:38 p.m. CST
The only DVD commentary that I ever listened to was Ebert's commentary for Citizen Kane- his insight is like taking a master class on the film- and yes - it is a boring answer - but I consider Kane, for so many reasons to be the best film ever made
by Michael Lunney
The only DVD commentary that I ever listened to was Ebert's commentary for Citizen Kane- his insight is like taking a master class on the film- and yes - it is a boring answer - but I consider Kane, for so many reasons to be the best film ever made And I have seen thousands of films, from all over the world. For several years, I was a paid film critic as well, graduating to a full fledged newspaper entertainment and features editor. And if you look really hard, you can see me in John Waters Hairspray. But they just don't make entertaining bad films like they used to. Nowadays, bad films are just bad films. Lovers of bad cinema know what I mean.
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Aug. 2, 2012, 7:05 p.m. CST
McGooToo, I would say I almost have an inherent love for cinema. It has always been something that spoke to me...
by ChaunceyGardiner
One of my earliest memories is watching at the local "dollar cinema" ("that was 1980s dollars in them days") the re-release of "E.T." I also remember seeing "A Christmas Story" in the theatre and "Ghostbusters" (being a very small child at the time, I did not realize it was a comedy). I say that not as a boast, but just as an explanation - I expect that there are other film lovers that have similar stories from their youth of latching onto the images on screen at a young and impressionable age. Around age 7 I knew who Steven Spielberg was and would look actively for his involvement in a film. Then around age 10 I noticed that the local newspaper ran on Fridays an entertainment supplement. And there was this whole page devoted to one man writing about new films, even ones that I would probably never see or only see until after the long years ahead till adulthood (I could not see a large amount of films as a child due to ratings considerations, which I do not hold against my parents as I was encouraged by them, especially my mother, to ingest a large helping of classic films, including "Vertigo" which is one ofthe best and most shocking film experiencesI've ever had). The man writing the column that was syndicated all the way down here to Georgia was Roger Ebert. I loved reading and I loved film and so it was a natural progression. Ebert is still my favourite critic, mainly for the entertainment level I get out of his films. I think another thing I learned from a long life of reading reviews is how it is that we watch movies, or how it is that we can watch movies. If I had understood at an early age the power of films, they helped me with the language of films and the fact that there is more to film than just entertainment (and as Preston Sturges pointed out, that is no small and unimportant job in itself). Film is communication. Film criticism is partly the reason I return to this site, despite the disappointment I feel that times reading the callowness of posts of others. Still, I love the interaction of people who love film. When we become earnestly enthusiastic about a subject and then devote time and energy to the full expression of that subject, I feel that something worthwhile becomes of it. It is the discipline aspect of it, the willingness to atune one's self to what another is saying and the possibilities resultant from that attempt at listening. Sorry to hear that you are no longer able to write in the papers about film, I feel that it is a loss for that print medium and a loss for the filmgoers who were offered a chance to choose what it was that they were going to see, the power of that. But I do not see film criticism as an art as dying out any time soon - as long as people like you and me who love to write and watch film are willingly to express that joy and not in a pedantic way but as one wise to another maybe not yet, to extoll the beauties of. Glad you found a place like this, a bit of a haven at times. There have been many times that this site itself has lent itself to the expansion of my tastes in film: the more subtle Argentos, all the plethora of new films, early Romero, John Carpenter, even "Robocop." Keep on truckin', good buddy.
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Aug. 2, 2012, 7:06 p.m. CST
Film criticism also gave the love that I have for noir films, their enormous import for American film art. When I found there were whole books in the library on the subject, I was set.
by ChaunceyGardiner
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Ok...I vote with my wallet, so.....
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1. Aliens 2. The Iron Giant 3. The Breakfast at Tiffany's 4. Star Wars 5. Hope and Glory 6. The Big Lebowski 7. L.A. Confidential 8. The Fisher King 9. You Can't Take It with You 10. Lost Horizon (Capra's) </p> Cheers!
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...no one is ever better than the Beatles even though better music has been made by many bands. I get so sick of that view point it drives me nuts. So you're saying no one has learned anything since 1960 basically. No one has ever been as creative or shot a better film or made anything that took peoples breath away? Give me a break. If they want to say this list is a list of "Most Important Films" ok, I can handle it. But greatest or best, no chance. And even if this was a list of most important, Star Wars should be listed very high too. I hate old people, yes everything that happened in your time is the best, please go ahead and die.
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Aug. 2, 2012, 8:15 p.m. CST
chaunceygardiner - thank you for you passionate reply - I want to reply more at length, but I am in the middle of watching TV stuff - but...
by Michael Lunney
...it sounds as if you really get great filmmaking at a deeper level than most, and can write about it your passion intelligently. We all have are various influences, and tastes, but, as you say, *If I had understood at an early age the power of films, they helped me with the language of films and the fact that there is more to film than just entertainment (and as Preston Sturges pointed out, that is no small and unimportant job in itself). Film is communication.* ...then you really get it. Films are also waking dreams. The best, that is. The five percent The brilliance of visionary directors. The abilty of film to entertain, and to change your life- give you purpose, correct the course, give it more meaning, make you laugh, to have fun, ot to enlighten, or both. Some people build their lives around some films, the power is there, Luke, if you get my drift. In any case, glad to have discovered a kindred spirit. For me, beginning at age 5,6, Vogue Theater, Chula Vista, CA, double and triple feature science fiction, horror and fantasy films at Saturday matinees, late 50's early sixties. Alreadt a movie freak, ate age 13, seeing 2001, twice, in a Cinerama Theater, The Randolph, Philadelphia, PA, with through-the-mail roadshow engagement tickets. My god. Kubrick. Kubrick. My life would never be the same. More, but gotta run. Will check in later, my friend. Just recently saw Tree of Life and was completely captivated by it's poetic style and purposeful, passionate, personal, visionary dream world of what the hell life is all about here on Mother Earth. Beautiful Film. A rarity of powerful storytelling that is unlike any other's.
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Seriously, Vertigo over Kane? Are you fucking kidding me. Kane fundamentally changed EVERYTHING about how films were made. From the non-linear plot (pretty much unheard of at the time), to the sound and set design were totally revolutionary. Welles sat down and actually showed the Studios how to make a sophisticated movie. It was a game changer.
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That has to be one of the most underrated films in movie history. Underrated in much the same way that "The Third Man" is overrated.
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Aug. 2, 2012, 8:30 p.m. CST
Harry's list would be all PJ, Del Toro, Stallone and others
by DougMcKenzie
that pretend to be his friend in order to get positive press. Nolan giving Harry the cold shoulder = TDKR sucks. Del Toro going to an all you can eat buffet with Harry = Blade II, the best movie EVAH!
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Aug. 2, 2012, 8:31 p.m. CST
Love me some Vertigo, but I have to agree about Rear Window being infinitely better.
by RedJester
No comparison really.
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Aug. 2, 2012, 8:39 p.m. CST
_lizarkeo, your list reads like the ones that the filmmakers put together. Very personal films of a high quality.
by ChaunceyGardiner
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Aug. 2, 2012, 8:40 p.m. CST
I was actually thinking how such lists as these leave out films that have serious emotional impact on those in the audience who adopt these films as their own.
by ChaunceyGardiner
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Aug. 2, 2012, 8:41 p.m. CST
A few that came to mind were "Iron Giant," "The Fisher King," and Capra's "Lost Horizon." Very fun and excellent list.
by ChaunceyGardiner
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Aug. 2, 2012, 9 p.m. CST
Fassneto, awesome to see love for "Umberto D." I think that "Umberto D"it is a film that speaks really loudly for some, but not all hear it. (More inside)
by ChaunceyGardiner
I must admit that "Bicycle Thieves" is a film I've never made it all the way through - I would turn it off waiting for a better time, a better mindset to see it. And yet that better time never came. Just like "Umberto D" it requires a great deal of empathy and concentration but it is "Umberto D" that truly resonates them me. It took me one abortive attempt to watch it before the second time when it really took root in my mind - and personally, Umberto's situation challanged me the most, made me want to turn my head while I knew I needed to keep watching. The idea of slowly starving to death and being turned away, door to door, that is a nightmarish concept. But just as it requires some considerable resources to attend to, those final moments are some of the most miraculous in film history - there is an undeniable truth to that relationship and the sacrifice that is offered, the bravery inherent in that tiny dog who has been seen only as a silent partner, a little totem for much of the film, something to live for. Then to see his love for his master released in such a way - I actually think I hollered. Some may see those closing moments as melodrama, but for me they are a revelation. Tremendous film that seems of its own universe, separate from the existence of other films.
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Aug. 2, 2012, 9:02 p.m. CST
As far as films go, "Umberto D" is one of the best rewards of my patience ever.
by ChaunceyGardiner
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1) Magic Mike 2) 21 Jump St. 3) Gi Joe: The Rise of Cobra 4) The Vow 5) Dear John 6) Stop-Loss 7) The Eagle 8) Step Up 2 9) Fighting 10) She's the Man
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Aug. 2, 2012, 9:33 p.m. CST
Another movie to throw into the discussion is Masaki Kobayashi's 'Hara-Hiri'
by reise reise
Brutal and extremely bleak but also stirring and humane, it might be the best samurai movie I've ever seen. Visually, the film is composed with the utmost precision and it also features what I think is one of the greatest performances of all time from Tatsuya Nakadai; I don't think I've ever seen a "hero" character portrayed in such an unusual, unsettling and hard-to-read manner.
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Aug. 2, 2012, 11:28 p.m. CST
McKenzie - hard to put my finger on it, but your list is missing something...
by ChaunceyGardiner
MORE TATUM!!! (Though I think you went to pretty far lengths to come with that list. Looks pretty complete. Hopefully you didn't do it by memory.)
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Aug. 2, 2012, 11:34 p.m. CST
A filmmaker who truly made "men as large as [his] vistas." (Think Ford said that but Leone's heroes fit that bill better for me. Tucco is one of the single greatest characters in film.)
by ChaunceyGardiner
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Aug. 2, 2012, 11:35 p.m. CST
Few filmmakers can congure up the majesty of Leone's images. In that respect, he and Lean are similar.
by ChaunceyGardiner
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Aug. 2, 2012, 11:43 p.m. CST
McKenzie, all critics have actors, directors, or writers that are touchstones for them that they have strong connection with. Ebert loves Neil LaBute films and Queen Latifa. And his "Hard Day's Night" review is for me as if written in a foreign language
by ChaunceyGardiner
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Good job. See this writing down here? This is where you put the comments. No need to spam the talkback, even though your mum has told you that you're the best and you got that participation ribbon on field day.
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It's truly sad that I read this list while watching the 2011 remake of Conan the Barbarian. my criterion collection blurays are judging me
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Same reason why The Oscars go to movies about HW -- self-obsession.
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And my non pretentious pick would be The Princess Bride. A perfect movie.
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Aug. 3, 2012, 8:07 a.m. CST
chaunceygardiner -have you read Ebert's comments about this? what do you think?
by Michael Lunney
http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2012/08/a_few_calm_words_about_the_lis.html Excerpt: For years people have been telling me they just don't see what's so great about 'Citizen Kane.'" Now they tell me they just don't see what's so great about "Vertigo." My answer will remain the same: "You're insufficiently evolved as a moviegoer." Or, more simply, "You're wrong." This will sound harsh to many, and they will take it as an insult instead of a rational thought, but I agree. There are lovers of film, those who understand this, and there are film watchers, those who watch films like they are just eating another twinkie, hoping the next twinkie is better than the last twinkie, but only seeing movies as twinkies and never as a gourmet meal. Or something like that....
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Aug. 3, 2012, 9:25 a.m. CST
McGooToo, I agree in that there is a rhythm to film language that must be acclimated to...
by ChaunceyGardiner
There was a period in the past two years where I took upon myself the task (pleasureable as it was) to see a lot of the films from the 80s and 90s that I had missed out on. These were mainly popular cinema, blockbusters, action films: entertainments. I found during this period when I returned to the more demanding cinema of the art film that I foundered; I would watch impatiently as though nothing were happening. Suprisingly enough, the shift came during a viewing of a contemporary film, "Another Earth." I had to shut it off and return to it a few hours later as I knew I just wasn't getting something: the meditation aspect of film, that experience of sitting in the dark conversely alone with one's thoughts but also attuned to those around you and shareing in the convergence of one another's mutual enjoyment/dissatisfaction/engrossment. In seeking to readjust my mindframe, to recalibrate my thoughts to the pattern suggested by the filmmakers of "Another Earth," my experience in returning to the film was wholly different. It was my attitudes that needed the adjustment - and this is just not something that many audiences are willing to do after shilling over a dime (or more, Georgia's still behind the times as far as nationwide averages go. Many still feel that the film should come to them. But I had a great experience in college watching "Mr. Hulot's Holiday" by the ebullient and brilliant mind of Mr. Jacques Tati. We all sat quietly in the room, prepared to see this comedy that even the professor had not yet seen (it was a film club). The quiet remained - and then, maybe 10 or so minutes in, somewhat settled into the rhythms of the film and comfortable in each other's mutual concentration (you try harder when you are in college I think, to see things another's way), the laughs started comeing. They were sporadic at first and perked everyone's attention. We became equally aware of the film and the experience of each other watching the film; and in that it became like a conversation, a rolling wave that may affect others different temporally depending on what point it is occupied within a certain space but one that effectively places all within a similar circumstance. You share the experience together, as an audience. In that, we lent our personalities to the experience of watching the film - and made it more enjoyable for all. After that I have come to view movie going as a special event, one within which there is an obligation to one's fellow audience. (And thanks for the link, I really enjoyed reading that and would not have otherwise.)
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Aug. 3, 2012, 9:26 a.m. CST
Personally, I feel lucky and blessed that I was raised on film in a way that nurtured a historical perspective. Many do not have this.
by ChaunceyGardiner
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Aug. 3, 2012, 9:28 a.m. CST
But how wonderful it is to encourage a friend contemptuous of the style of old films and to have them come out with an appreciation for the beauty of black&white movies.
by ChaunceyGardiner
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Aug. 3, 2012, 10:32 a.m. CST
chaunceygardiner - speaking of seeking to readjust YOUR mindframe- have you seen either of thes Tarkovsky films, Stalker, or Solaris? He is a Kubrick level genius, world class filmmaker who, with these films....
by Michael Lunney
completely changes your expectations of what film is. He forces you to succumb to his film's much slower imagery - to create a hypnotic effect unlike any other filmmaker's output. Both are incredible, SF films, and both a mindblowing- with endings that will have you, perhaps shaking at how incredible the experience was that you just saw. Tarkovsky can easily bore those not ready for him. His movies are also highly philosophical, and that is one aspect of Russian film that I cherish. IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN STALKER OR SOLARIS, PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO DO SO. THEY ARE UNLIKE ANYTHING ELSE YOU WILL EVER SEE. By the way, I am not an elitist film snob. I love movies of all kinds. I have probably seen more bad, but entertaining, films, on purpose, than most people have seen what would be considered good to great to classic cinema. You seem capable of handling the particular rhythms of Tarkovsy's style, and you would be so incredibly enriched by the experiences. For that matter, all Tarkovsy is worth seeing. I just chose my 2 favorites. He did not make many films, died way too young, ala Kubrick. I am very much looking forward to Another Earth, as it is now playing on HBO. I am also a huger animation fan. If you would like any recommendations, feel free to ask. Tonigt I am watching Superman vs. The Elite that a firend is bringiing over. Have you seen Tree of Life? Another film that many would find boring and amorphous, but is a work of art, if you allow youself to adjust to the rhythms of Malick's unique, directorial contemplative style and vision.
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Aug. 3, 2012, 10:35 a.m. CST
Speaking of B&W films, it is sad that there are so many younger people who won't watch them, missing out on some of the best films ever made. I also love the best of silents. Many silents are better than today's glut of output.
by Michael Lunney
Speaking of B&W films, it is sad that there are so many younger people who won't watch them, missing out on some of the best films ever made. I also love the best of silents. Many silents are better than today's glut of output.
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Aug. 3, 2012, 10:38 a.m. CST
chaunceygardiner - speaking of film's historical perspective, I explored early cinema, all on my own, reading books and then exploring, and am so glad I did. I would love to teach an Art of the Film class but have no credentials. Oh well...
by Michael Lunney
chaunceygardiner - speaking of film's historical perspective, I explored early cinema, all on my own, reading books and then exploring, and am so glad I did. I would love to teach an Art of the Film class but have no credentials. Oh well...
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Aug. 3, 2012, 10:38 a.m. CST
No Lawrence of Arabia? No fucking credibility. And no Seven Samurai in top 10? Fuck that noise.
by Gawdfather
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Aug. 3, 2012, 10:53 a.m. CST
chaunceygardiner - You say: After that I have come to view movie going as a special event, one within which there is an obligation to one's fellow audience. Do youself a favor and watch this- http://www.aintitcool.com/node/57396
by Michael Lunney
chaunceygardiner - You say: After that I have come to view movie going as a special event, one within which there is an obligation to one's fellow audience. Do youself a favor and watch this- http://www.aintitcool.com/node/57396
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Aug. 3, 2012, 12:25 p.m. CST
mcgootoo - STALKER is magnificent, and I can't even begin to articulate WHY, it just IS.
by trevanian
About the only other film of the last few decades that I admire as much and also remain utterly non-critical about is Se7en. Then again, I'm parceling out my re-viewings of STALKER carefully, and not reading about the making ... going through 800 pages of interview transcripts about making 2001 and seeing the Kubrick a couple dozen times in the theater, along with countless laserdisc/dvd viewings, has made it harder for me to just experience that movie, and I don't want to diminish STALKER in any way. As for VERTIGO ... it came in on netflix the day this topic came out. I HAD been looking forward to rewatching it, but this kind of cast a pall over it. So we watched it finally last night, third complete viewing ... and it just didn't come close to measuring up to memory. Some of it must have been unconscious backlash on my part against the rankings, but honest to god, the stuff that always bothered me bothered me more this time, and plenty of other stuff just distracted me. I found myself timing the no dialog stretch early on. Kim Novak's eyebrows look like a rejected makeup test for Jim Arness as THE THING (if you have the Cinefantastique double issue on WRATH OF KHAN and BLADE RUNNER, there is a feature on the Hawks film, and the pics are there, check if you don't believe me.) The warp/vertigo shots are fine as executed (should be, fifty grand was a helluva lot back then), but the cutting doesn't allow the effect to fully register ... it would be like taking the 'warp' shot of Brody in JAWS and cutting it in half, destroying a lot of the effect. With the glorious exceptions of NOTORIOUS and SHADOW OF A DOUBT and most of REBECCA, I don't usually find Hitchcock to be all that amazing (though I have watched THE BIRDS about two dozen times, it is just fun, one of those, 'better WITH commercial breaks' flicks ... which sounds sad, given that TELEFON is my classic example for that type of failure.) For me, VERTIGO didn't seem to add up to the sum of its parts ... the score was great, a lot of the cinematography was nice, SOME of the effects (not the Stewart head stuck over a LAUGH-IN hallucination, something they should recycle for Roger Sterling's next acid trip on MAD MEN) ... but it just wasn't all that.
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Aug. 3, 2012, 12:43 p.m. CST
JAWS is the best movie ever.FACT!!! End of discussion.
by SergeantStedenko
Move along now. Nothing to see here.
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Aug. 3, 2012, 12:46 p.m. CST
Also, Birth of a Nation gets a raw deal, because of Griffith's blatant racism.
by SergeantStedenko
There's that.
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Aug. 3, 2012, 12:57 p.m. CST
trevanian - regarding Stalker, I first saw it on a relatively bad VHS print, but still loved it- and I am going to make a suggestion:
by Michael Lunney
check you local library - mine had a newer copy of Stalker on DVD, and the DVD version has the sound in 5.1 Dolby surround!! Yes, I know the original was mono, but whomever did the surround remix did it with loving care, and it REALLY amplified the visuals in a most amazing way. I usually do not recommend such remixes, but this was so good, it was like watching the film for the first time. Se7en is also a great film. And as for Vertigo, I only saw it once, in a theater, during a bunch of Hitchcock reisxues, I beleive in the 70s. I will have to rewatch it. By the way, Bernard Herrmann, Vertigo's composer, and the Saul Bass opening credits, the cre4dit sequence with that music is such a great, swooning opening to a film. THanks for your remarks Rewatch Stalker in surround!!!! And I stopped counting the number of times I saw 2001 after 15. Saw it twice, in Cinerama -- you too?
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Aug. 3, 2012, 1:24 p.m. CST
sergeantstedenko - there is no arguing that Jaws and Birth are 2 of the greatest films in film history - I love the continued love for silent films!!!!!!
by Michael Lunney
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Aug. 3, 2012, 1:28 p.m. CST
Does anyone else think that The Artist, an OK film but not really the year's best, was a silent movie made for people who never watch silent movies? If you know what I mean?
by Michael Lunney
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at whatever was the big cinerama theater back then ... spectacular. Also saw it at Century 21 or 23 in San Jose shortly thereafter. Saw it in straight 70mm several times later, but without the curved screen, it wasn't the same, Cinerama seriously enhanced the experience of blowing my lil mind (between that and seeing GOLDFINGER in the theater before I turned 4, cinema-going experiences burnished themselves on my psyche in a BIG BIG way.) The STALKER disc I have does have the surround, but my sound system probably isn't good enough to appreciate it (apartment living.)
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It's funny that the number 1 film Vertigo was directed by someone who alledgedly sexually harrassed his actresses, and the film is considered his most personal film because of his obsession with his actresses.
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Aug. 3, 2012, 2:04 p.m. CST
trevanian - try the surrond and you will see what I mean- I was 13 when I first saw 2001 in Cinerama- spectacular experience! bought the lobby book for it!!
by Michael Lunney
and I still have it. The first time I saw it, to add to the unforgettable experience, I sat behind an ENTIRE ROW OF NUNS!!!!!!! All that floating blackness just in front of me...........no heads, just habits I wonder if they REALLY saw god for the first time that day.... We were both hypnotized by the cinematric theater going experience at a very early age---- it does make a tremendous difference in one's lifelong interest, doesn't it??? My earlierst recollections are from age 5-6, double and triple feature SF, horror and fantasy films with every Saturday matinee, and hamburger dinners that evening....
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Sexual harrassment must be okay if you like the guy doing it.
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Aug. 3, 2012, 2:05 p.m. CST
mcgootoo, after seeing The Artist, I am really shocked that it won Best Picture
by SergeantStedenko
I guess I shouldn't be given some of the Best Picture films of the last two decades. (Crash, I'm looking at you.) Also, Harvey Weinstein is very good at selling a film to the Academy members. The Artist really had so many elements that appeal to the aging Academy: 1. it's insular plot being about Hollywood and movies, 2. a novelty gimmick that makes it seem artsy (heck, the film is even named The Artist, even though its about an actor and actor's are rarely referred to as artists. Not suggesting they aren't, they absolutely are, but "actor" is not the first thing that comes to mind when you see the word "artist." I'm sure this stroked a few egos among the Academy), 3. a cute animal (this movie is all about the dog, imo, 4. it's a feel good film with a happy ending, 5. it's in Black & White. I liked the movie fine. It is cute harmless entertainment and one could spend 2 hours of their time in worst ways. But, it's winning of an Oscar and general overratedness, almost make me want to dislike the movie just on principal. I say "almost" because I am not a hater. It did not add to my understanding of the Silent Film era or of the transition to Talkies at all. I was hoping for a deep exploration of the tragedy of those artists who were left behind, but instead I got a dog and pony show.
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Aug. 3, 2012, 2:13 p.m. CST
sam fulmer, Hollywood at best turns a blind eye to sexism and sexual harassment, at worst consciously promotes it
by SergeantStedenko
Just look at the overwhelming support for a man who drugged and anally raped a child against her will. Along with all the other sexual deviants, wife beaters and womanizers Hollywood celebrates. I won't mention any names because I have no intention of opening this can of worms yet again.
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I liked it, it wasn't what I would call the best picture I saw last year, but it was better than Hugo which was probably the film with the next closest chance of winning academy votes. I liked Tree of Life, Moneyball, The Descendants, and Midnight and Paris more, but they had no chance of winning.
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Aug. 3, 2012, 3:02 p.m. CST
sergeantstedenko - my sentiments exactly at being underwhelmed by The Artist- not bad- just not a great silent film, or great film, period.
by Michael Lunney
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Aug. 3, 2012, 3:03 p.m. CST
samuel fulmer I did like Hugo and I love Scorsese, not so much lately, but I actually liked Tin Tin more than Hugo- high expectations vs. low, I guess...
by Michael Lunney
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I agree with you. Amadeus is most definitely one of the 10 greatest films ever made. One of the very few films I would consider "flawless." It's a work of genius, about genius itself. The reason why many wouldn't consider it among the very top, is because it doesn't have a traditional protagonist/antagonist story arc. There is no rise, fall, redemption or simply a rise and fall narrative (like citizen kane, for instance). In terms of the way the film is made, (acting/directing/editing/writing/pacing/cinematography/etc) the film is almost peerless. It's my personal favorite film ever made, one I reserve for special occasions to view... But hey, the list is just opinion. Who cares?
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aren't on the critics list is that he has too many good films that split the vote.
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UPDATED!!
Kiefer Sutherland To Reprise Jack Bauer For Fox's Newly Greenlit Series Revival Of 24!! Relaunch Targeted For May '14!! -- 316 total posts 76 posts -
UPDATED WITH VIDEO!!
Bad Robot’s Robot Cop Series To Mondays!! M. Night Shyamalan’s WAYWARD PINES To Midseason!! Fox’s 2013-14 Schedule!! -- 65 total posts 65 posts - Paul Giamatti in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 image gets tweeted! -- 331 total posts 64 posts