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| billyweeds |
 Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2009 6:28 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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chills--Though I'm not in complete sync with your top nine, I am partially right there with you, as you can see from my top ten.
1. Rear Window
2. Casablanca
3. The Godfather
4. Singin’ in the Rain
5. Leaving Las Vegas
6. The Apartment
7. Boogie Nights
8. Sunset Blvd.
9. Psycho
10. Fargo
One from the 1940s, three from the 50s, two barely (1960) from the 60s (one of my two least favorite movie decades), one from the 70s, none from the 80s (see opinion on movies of the 60s) and three from the 90s.
A couple 30s movies (It Happened One Night, Gone With the Wind) are close, and a few from the 00s (A Serious Man, The Hurt Locker, Mulholland Dr., Sideways). Sideways and Locker are the ones most likely to stand the test of time and wind up in my permanent top 20. Meanwhile, the top ten above are there to stay, barring some unforeseen miracle. I've seen them all over and over and over, and I never lose faith. Oops, I lied, I've only seen Psycho a couple of times--it still has the power to scare the shit out of me, and I almost always bail before the shower scene.
It's fitting that my two favorite directors, Hitchcock and Wilder, both have two movies in my top ten. Strangers on a Train and Vertigo are in the top 20, as is Some Like It Hot. North by Northwest (Hitchcock) and Double Indemnity and The Lost Weekend (Wilder) keep intermittently knocking at the top-20 door.
Because I love Hitchcock and Wilder so much, I am particularly pained when the guys have the occasional off day (Torn Curtain, The Paradine Case, One Two Three, Irma La Douce). But I'll live, and so will their great films. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2009 7:20 am |
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| These lists are obviously best American film lists. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2009 7:27 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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marantzo wrote: These lists are obviously best American film lists.
Can't deny I'm a filmic jingo. I tend to prefer American films to foreign. Currently I am wildly in love with the French 35 Shots of Rum, and rather recently I embraced 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days. Bergman's Wild Strawberries and Truffaut's Stolen Kisses and The 400 Blows are way up there. But otherwise, I'm largely a Yank. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2009 7:55 am |
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| I'm assuming no one has seen or even heard of Snow Cake. Rickman is one of my favourite actors and I think this is the best I've ever seen of him. Sigourney is great as a functioning autistic and Carrie-Anne Moss is perfect as the love interest. Everyone is spot on, but sadly I missed the first part that has Emily Hampshire's character who is supposed to be very interesting. I did see her in a sort of waking dream sequence late in the movie (no dialogue) and the scene is stirring. If you don't tear up watching it, you have no heart. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2009 7:59 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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marantzo wrote: I'm assuming no one has seen or even heard of Snow Cake. Rickman is one of my favourite actors and I think this is the best I've ever seen of him. Sigourney is great as a functioning autistic and Carrie-Anne Moss is perfect as the love interest. Everyone is spot on, but sadly I missed the first part that has Emily Hampshire's character who is supposed to be very interesting. I did see her in a sort of waking dream sequence late in the movie (no dialogue) and the scene is stirring. If you don't tear up watching it, you have no heart.
Will see ASAP. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2009 8:06 am |
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| I'm pretty sure it will be well worth your while. And I'm pretty sure that Dolores (sp?) will thank me. |
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| chillywilly |
| Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2009 9:07 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 8251
Location: Salt Lake City
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billy - yes, with The Apartment and Rear Window, which are incredible works of cinema.
And I have to mention Sideways, which I agree with you that it will stand the test of time. I can pull that movie out and watch it and laugh just as hard as I did the first time I saw it. Thomas Haden Church is so good and so funny and so dead on with his humor. I love Paul Giamatti, too, but THC made it perfect. |
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Chilly
"If you should die before me / Ask if you could bring a friend" |
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| whiskeypriest |
| Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2009 9:27 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 6916
Location: "It's a Dry Heat."
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Marc wrote: Watched Billy Wilder's The Apartment for the first time. A terrific comedy with Wilder's trademark dark edginess. I think the film has had an influence on Mad Men.
Jack Lemmon is wonderful in the movie. I had forgotten what a marvelous actor he is. He uses every square inch of his body to great comic effect. |
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I ask you, Velvel, as a rational man, which of us is possessed? |
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| whiskeypriest |
| Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2009 9:43 am |
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Location: "It's a Dry Heat."
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| The Apartment is one of about 50 movies I keep trying to find room for in my Top 25. Currently, it's lodged at 25. And Billy Wilder remains my favorite director; one of a small handful of directors whose best movies always strike something within me. |
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I ask you, Velvel, as a rational man, which of us is possessed? |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2009 10:26 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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marantzo wrote: I'm pretty sure it will be well worth your while. And I'm pretty sure that Dolores (sp?) will thank me.
The spelling is correct! And you are in the minority with that. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2009 10:27 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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chillywilly wrote: billy - yes, with The Apartment and Rear Window, which are incredible works of cinema.
And I have to mention Sideways, which I agree with you that it will stand the test of time. I can pull that movie out and watch it and laugh just as hard as I did the first time I saw it. Thomas Haden Church is so good and so funny and so dead on with his humor. I love Paul Giamatti, too, but THC made it perfect.
As great as Giamatti and Church are, without Virginia Madsen's wonderful performance the movie would be only about three-quarters as good as it is. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2009 10:32 am |
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| She was exceptional. I fell in love with her. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2009 10:49 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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marantzo wrote: She was exceptional. I fell in love with her.
Her Oscar loss to Cate Blanchett in The Aviator was the rare event I call a "travesty." |
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| whiskeypriest |
| Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2009 11:04 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 6916
Location: "It's a Dry Heat."
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This is Part One:
So, I am working on my Top 10 of the Decade. I have a list of movies that I really want to see before the list becomes final, and I suppose there are movies out there I like that I might revisit and like a lot more. So far, I’ve narrowed my still flexible list down to 15 – 6 that are definitely in, and their relative order fixed in my mind, and 9 that are under consideration.
So here’s the preliminary list. The Maybes are in alphabetical order, with a brief explanation of why they could be in my Top 10, and why they might not be.
Adaptation
Why it could be in: Cage, Cooper, Streep and Cage give four of my favorite performances of the decade. The screenplay is a marvel of wit and intelligence that turns on itself at the end, and manages to make me laugh and think.
Why it might be out: Well, sometimes Kaufman is too smart for his own good. And the movie never really totally connects with me emotionally, as much as I love it intellectually.
American Splendor
Why it could be in: Paul Giamatti delivers my second favorite male lead of the decade. Hope Davis is damned good too. The movie’s method – interspersing real people with the actors and comics – and subject – like Pekar's comics, the drama of everyday life - elevates the sort of standard episodic biopic nature of the movie. Plus... while New Yorkers may have become rather blasé about all this, there’s something about going to a movie and realizing they are filming at a run down diner you’ve had a patty melt in to nail a movie for you.
Why it might not be in: Well, it is an episodic biopic and shares a bit of the form’s weakness for events over character. Cleveland porn is not really that great of a reason to love a movie. I mean, I used to drink heavily in The Euclid Tavern, the bar they filmed the band scenes in Light of Day in, and the movie still sucked.
Chicago
Why it could be in: Some dazzling performances, notably Catherine Zeta Jones. Imaginatively staged and shot. Great tunes, well performed.
Why it might not be in: I hate Renee Zellweger. Hate. While a real good movie, it just seems to lack some undefinable element for me.
Gosford Park
Why it could be in: A witty dissection of class and rank. A nice spoof on English drawing room mysteries that opens up on repeated viewings. Good performances by every third person in England.
Why it might not be in: While Altman handles the large cast well, there are several characters that are hard to differentiate. Could use a better pacing in some stretches.
The Hurt Locker
Why it could be in: A tremendous visceral experience that brings home the emotional truth of what it would be like to live in the shadow of planned, random, and risked death – which still manages to be, despite that, a penetrating character study. A great central performance my Renner, and equally stellar supporting turns by Mackie and Geraghty.
Why it might not be in: Hold the goddamned camera still. I understand the technique helps with the emotional immediacy, but the theaters might as well start selling Dramamine at the snack bar. The intrusion of one character who might as well have been named “Colonel Deadmeat” for all his fate was telegraphed.
In Bruges
Why it could be in: A sparkling screenplay that shows great verbal wit and humanity. Excellent co-lead performances. Tremendous soundtrack and cinematography. And while I am not overly enamored of him as a lead romantic actor, no one, but no one, in movies today does gleeful evil like Ralph Fiennes.
Why it might not be in: Uh... I might like a few movies better. On some undefinable level, never really seems great.
Lord of the Rings
Why it could be in: Viewing the thing as one movie in three parts rather than three movies – individually none of the movies would be under consideration - the thing has an undeniable sweep and spirit that carries it past the rather obvious bumps. It looks and feels as well made as any movie of the decade. Several breathtaking set pieces and scenes.
Why it might not be in: Well, it’s not actually one movie. Plus, there are those bumps, most notably Legolas the Expositional Elf. The best performances are the more supporting ones (Miranda Otto and Bernard Hill) and the one where there is not an actual actor there (Andy Serkin). And I realize that you need to compensate for the fact that the first two movies have no endings, really, but that’s no excuse for having five of them in the last one.
Once
Why it could be in: Because I fell in love with the damned thing when Marketa Irglova walked her little blue Hoover through the streets of Dublin like it was a puppy on a leash, that’s why. And because I spent the last 20 minutes praying that the film makers had the courage and sense to end the movie properly rather than conventionally and it is nice when prayers are answered. I liked most of the music quite a lot. The performers were charming. The movie also had the intelligence, like its heroine, to leave the most crucial bit of dialogue untranslated.
Why it might not be in: Really, the script is a cliché factory. Those standard musical hey, wait a damn minute, these guys are talented! type of scenes and shots only really work because I was already in love with the movie.
Zodiac
Why it could be in: Because considering all the love he gets, it’s nice that there’s a Fincher film I actually like. Robert Downey Jr.’s dissipated reporter is a decade supporting highlight. Deft and suspenseful handling of the suspense scenes. Manages to make the cross current of shifting facts in the case clear. Relatively speaking.
Why it might not be: Tends to drag, near the end, especially. Gyllenhaal never really sold me as the type of man to let his obsession overtake his life. |
Last edited by whiskeypriest on Tue Dec 15, 2009 8:13 pm; edited 1 time in total
_________________
I ask you, Velvel, as a rational man, which of us is possessed? |
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| whiskeypriest |
| Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2009 11:08 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 6916
Location: "It's a Dry Heat."
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billyweeds wrote: marantzo wrote: She was exceptional. I fell in love with her.
Her Oscar loss to Cate Blanchett in The Aviator was the rare event I call a "travesty." |
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I ask you, Velvel, as a rational man, which of us is possessed? |
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