An Open Question for Bloggers, Lurkers, and Stumblers
Call it a meme if you like, though I think the term's gone out of fashion. Anyway, I'm not setting any rules or regulations, and I'm not tagging anyone - just asking a question that I'd love to see answered. The "(of Your)" part of the title is essential; these lists need not be definitive in any way. They should just represent movies you want to highlight at this particular moment to express your taste or amuse yourself and others. If a hundred titles are too many, or too few, pick another number. Feel free to include pictures and brief explanations (that was the most fun part for me) - or not. You can respond in the comments below or on your own blog; you can tag others or follow my lead and just ask everyone. And of course you could snicker at the question and say, huffily (as a fellow in a Joy Division shirt recently sneered at me when I asked his favorite of their albums), "I hate those stupid questions!" But where's the fun in that?
Here's my own list, from last December (already there's a bunch of stuff I would change around): 100 of My Favorite Movies
Enjoy yourselves. I'm really interested to see who picks what.
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10 comments:
Madame de... by Max Ophuls is my favorite picture.
Good choice, Matthias (this time around, no Ophuls made my list but if any had it would be Letter from an Unknown Woman). Any more where that came from?
Ah! Letter from an Unknown Woman has possibly the best performance that Max got in his movies, but I wasn't as affected by it as I was the structure and narrative devices (and what devices they are!) in Madame De....
Unfortunately, my blogging days aren't with us. Honestly, I had thought that your comment section was going to be flooded with people on this topic.
Cheers.
Yeah, me too! I'd like to think people are preparing their blog posts, but we'll see. Lurkers, de-lurk...
Via e-mail, Jaime Grijalba has shared with me his top 100. Here it is for DI readers. The numbers didn't copy over, so I added them in 10-spot intervals to keep better track. I understand he also did a series on his favorites a few years back. I'll see if I can dig up the link for that.
For now, enjoy:
1) Donnie Darko (2001)
Magnolia (1999)
The Shining (1980)
The Evil Dead (1981)
Monty Python and The Holy Grail (1975)
Brazil (1985)
Kill Bill (2003/2004)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
10) Vertigo (1958)
Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
Inglorious Basterds (2009)
Toki o kakeru shôjo (2006)
Evil Dead II (1987)
Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind (2004)
Psycho (1960)
Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi (2001)
Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
There Will Be Blood (2007)
20) The Fountain (2006)
Bowling for Columbine (2002)
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
The Lord of the Rings (2001/2002/2003)
Hanyo (1960)
Akahige (1965)
Wandâfuru raifu (1998)
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
Back to the Future (1985)
North by Northwest (1959)
30) The Truman Show (1998)
Harvey (1950)
Gone Baby Gone (2007)
Ed Wood (1994)
Adaptation (2002)
El Ángel Exterminador (1968)
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
Ai no mukidashi (2008)
Yi yi (2000)
40) Citizen Kane (1941)
À Bout de souffle (1960)
Twelve Monkeys (1995)
Dung che sai duk (1994)
Southland Tales (2006)
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
The Devils (1971)
The Maltese Falcon (1941)
Angst essen Seele auf (1974)
American Graffiti (1973)
50) 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
The Elephant Man (1980)
Shichinin no samurai (1954)
Fa yeung nin wa (2000)
Fight Club (1999)
Rashomon (1950)
Eraserhead (1977)
Carrie (1976)
Kaze no kani no Naushika (1984)
Blue Velvet (1986)
60) Apocalypse Now (1979)
Groundhog Day (1993)
Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
Hauru no ugoku shiro (2004)
Everything Will Be Ok (2006)
M (1931)
Boogie Nights (1997)
WALL·E (2008)
Domino (2005)
Hiroshima mon amour (1959)
70) Suspiria (1977)
Gongdong gyeongbi guyeok JSA (2000)
Pierrot le fou (1965)
L`Age D'Or (1930)
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
Chinjeolhan geumjassi (2005)
Viridiana (1961)
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
INLAND EMPIRE (2006)
Un chien Andalou (1929)
80) The Invisible Man (1933)
Salinui chueok (2003)
Lost Highway (1997)
Ikiru (1952)
Halloween (1978)
The Prestige (2006)
Señales de ruta (2000)
Mullholland Dr. (2001)
12 Angry Men (1957)
7:35 de la mañana (2003)
90) Master and Commander: The far side of the World (2003)
Big Fish (2003)
Okuribito (2008)
Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
Batoru rowaiaru (2000)
V for Vendetta (2005)
The Thing (1982)
Modern Times (1936)
Frankenstein (1931)
The Wicker Man (1973)
100) The Fly (1986)
I wish I'd remembered to slot Everything Will Be OK somewhere on my list...
Lately I am always fiddling with this, but here's a hundred as of today...
1. City Lights (1931)
2. Scenes From a Marriage (1973)
3. The Up Series (1964-present)
4. Nashville (1975)
5. Taxi Driver (1975)
6. Seven Samurai (1954)
7. Annie Hall (1977)
8. The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)
9. Sunset Blvd. (1950)
10. Au hasard Balthazar (1966)
11. Tokyo Story (1953)
12. The Mother and the Whore (1973)
13. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
14. Blue Velvet (1986)
15. It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
16. Apocalypse Now (1979)
17. Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980)
18. Night of the Living Dead (1968)
19. Fanny and Alexander (1983)
20. No Direction Home: Bob Dylan (2005)
21. Modern Times (1936)
22. Mulholland Dr. (2001)
23. Double Indemnity (1944)
24. Aguirre: The Wrath of God (1972)
25. The Godfather (1972)
26. Nights of Cabiria (1957)
27. North by Northwest (1959)
28. Casablanca (1942)
29. Cabaret (1972)
30. Persona (1966)
31. Fearless (1993)
32. Scarlet Street (1945)
33. Velvet Goldmine (1998)
34. Videodrome (1983)
35. Gates of Heaven (1978)
36. Dogfight (1991)
37. Before Sunset (2004)
38. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
39. Rosemary's Baby (1968)
40. Strangers on a Train (1951)
41. Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
42. Run Lola Run (1998)
43. Don't Look Back (1967)
44. The 400 Blows (1959)
45. Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927)
46. Freaks (1932)
47. Short Cuts (1993)
48. Do the Right Thing (1989)
49. The Graduate (1967)
50. The Lady Eve (1941)
51. The Lord of the Rings (2001)
52. You Can Count on Me (2000)
53. Lost in Translation (2003)
54. Ghost World (2001)
55. The Girl Can't Help It (1956)
56. The Man with the Movie Camera (1929)
57. Jackie Brown (1997)
58. King Kong (1933)
59. The Tenant (1976)
60. McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)
61. The Maltese Falcon (1941)
62. Rear Window (1954)
63. Mean Streets (1973)
64. Gimme Shelter (1970)
65. GoodFellas (1990)
66. Manhattan (1979)
67. Safe (1995)
68. Alien (1979)
69. Drugstore Cowboy (1989)
70. High Art (1998)
71. The Player (1992)
72. Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
73. Unforgiven (1992)
74. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
75. The Blue Angel (1930)
76. Dead Ringers (1988)
77. Eraserhead (1976)
78. Breaking the Waves (1996)
79. On the Waterfront (1954)
80. Day for Night (1973)
81. Trainspotting (1996)
82. Boogie Nights (1997)
83. Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
84. Local Hero (1983)
85. Grace of My Heart (1996)
86. The Exorcist (1973)
87. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007)
88. Zodiac (2007)
89. Oldboy (2003)
90. Stevie (2002)
91. Gosford Park (2001)
92. Harlan County, U.S.A. (1976)
93. MASH (1970)
94. Psycho (1960)
95. Singin' in the Rain (1952)
96. Rashomon (1950)
97. Bicycle Thieves (1948)
98. Notorious (1946)
99. The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1944)
100. To Be or Not to Be (1942)
I actually put myself through this process fairly recently (for whatever bizarre reason) and this is what I ended up with. I've cheated a couple of times here (pairing Frankenstein with Bride of Frankenstein and the first two Godfathers) as otherwise both would have easily made the list on their own and I was hungry for space to devote to other films. If it matters at all, I would place Frankenstein over Bride and Part II over Part I if forced to choose.
1. Spirit of the Beehive (1973)
2. Masculine, Feminine (1966)
3. Orphee (1950)
4. Citizen Kane (1941)
5. Killer of Sheep (1977)
6. Duck Soup (1933)
7. Sunrise (1927)
8. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
9. Broken Blossoms (1919)
10. The Crowd (1928)
11. La Roue (1923)
12. Frankenstein/Bride of Frankenstein (1931/35)
13. The Man With the Movie Camera (1929)
14. A Serious Man (2009)
15. All That Heaven Allows (1955)
16. Breathless (1960)
17. Taxi Driver (1976)
18. Dead Man (1995)
19. Othello (1952)
20. Man of the West (1958)
21. Way Down East (1920)
22. Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)
23. Once Upon A Time In The West (1969)
24. The Godfather, Parts I and II (1972/74)
25. Kiss Me Deadly (1955)
26. How Green Was My Valley (1941)
27. Attack! (1956)
28. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)
29. Ikiru (1952)
30. Cairo Station (1962)
31. Only Angels Have Wings (1939)
32. Ace In The Hole (1951)
33. Targets (1968)
34. Wild Strawberries (1957)
35. The Good, The Bad and the Ugly (1966)
36. Beauty and the Beast (1947)
37. Written on the Wind (1956)
38. The Night of the Hunter (1955)
39. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
40. The House is Black (1963)
41. Psycho (1960)
42. Seven Samurai (1956)
43. F for Fake (1973)
44. Welfare (1975)
45. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
46. Sunset Blvd. (1950)
47. The Shining (1980)
48. The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
49. Touch of Evil (1958)
50. Eraserhead (1977)
51. The Man From Laramie (1955)
52. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)
53. Nosferatu (1922)
54. Make Way for Tomorrow (1937)
55. Blow-Up (1966)
56. Aguirre: The Wrath of God (1972)
57. No Country for Old Men (2007)
58. Do The Right Thing (1989)
59. A Night at the Opera (1935)
60. 8 ½ (1963)
61. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
62. The Third Man (1949)
63. The Thief of Bagdad (1924)
64. The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972)
65. Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
66. Spirited Away (2001)
67. The Docks of New York (1928)
68. Duck Amuck (1953)
69. Dog Star Man (1961)
70. Children of Paradise (1945)
71. Night of the Living Dead (1968)
72. Vertigo (1958)
73. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
74. Last Year at Marienbad (1961)
75. Russian Ark (2002)
76. Gilda (1946)
77. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921)
78. The Last Picture Show (1971)
79. Mildred Pierce (1945)
80. Brazil (1985)
81. Sherlock Jr. (1924)
82. My Life to Live (1962)
83. Dr. Strangelove (1964)
84. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
85. The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover (1989)
86. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
87. The King of Comedy (1983)
88. The Leopard (1963)
89. Valhalla Rising (2010)
90. The Fly (1986)
91. The Immortal Story (1968)
92. Once Upon A Time In China (1991)
93. The Bigamist (1953)
94. Miller’s Crossing (1990)
95. Annie Hall (1977)
96. Don’t Look Back (1967)
97. His Girl Friday (1940)
98. Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985)
99. Pi (1998)
100. Hour of the Wolf (1968)
There were, of course, several other choices I could just as easily have made - including my adopted alias that I was delighted to see on your list.
Ah, good to see people taking it up! I'll come back next week with some more extensive comments on you guys' choices, but great lists! Love to see The House is Black on there too, EB.
Shame more people didn't bite (it's still an open invitation, folks) but for a bit more detailed response...
JPK, nice list with a lot of overlap between us I think. Particularly cool to see Mother & the Whore and the Up series so high.
Fascinating to see Dogfight up there too. I quite liked that movie - it's one of those quiet, little humanist films that kind of fly below the radar but stick with you once you've seen them. I actually recently acquired an old VHS copy. Cool to see Harlan County, USA on there too. Have you seen the later film by the same director - I think it's called American Dream? I saw some clips from it once and it looked absolutely fascinating - maybe even more so than its more famous predecessor. I still haven't seen the whole thing though.
Emak Bakia,
Nice to see Masculin Feminin so high. I'm planning a series where I discuss each of my 100 favorites in a bit more detail, like a couple paragraphs, and obviously that one will climax the series.
What makes it top Godard for you? For me, above all, it's the style - it's just the perfect combination of kinetic propulsion and long, unblinking photographic fascination.
Other highlights: glad to see love for Make Way for Tomorrow. I know it's probably not kosher to say, but I personally prefer it to Tokyo Story. Hey, so did Ozu, probably!
And Targets - that's one of those films, like Parallax View, that I stumbled across one day on TV without ever having heard of before, tuning in halfway through and wondering what exactly what was going on - why this quiet sniper kid & Karloff were in the same movie, how they'd connect. I love finding movies like that, like entering a mysterious universe. Good picks.
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