re: An Experiment - Voting - 100 Movies We Agree Don't Suck

1. The Godfather I and II
2. Goodfellas
3. On the Waterfront
4. Pulp Fiction
5. Casablanca
6. Star Wars/The Empire Strikes Back/Return of the Jedi
7. It’s a Wonderful Life
8. Paths of Glory
9. Amadeus
10. The Sting
11. Schindler’s List
12. American Graffiti
13. Chinatown
14. A Fish Called Wanda
15. The King of Comedy
16. Trainspotting
17. Reversal of Fortune
18. Moonstruck
19. The Caine Mutiny
20. Take the Money and Run

Honorable Mention: A Clockwork Orange, The Conversation, MASH, Prizzi’s Honor, Snatch, Monty Python and the Life of Brian, Risky Business, Midnight Run, Citizen Kane, Jaws

Here's my list:

1. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
2. The Godfather
3. The Shawshank Redemption
4. Amadeus
5. High Noon
6. Apocalypse Now
7. Unforgiven
8. 12 Angry Men
9. Platoon
10. The Bridge on the River Kwai
11. Goodfellas
12. Star Wars (IV-VI)
13. No Country for Old Men
14. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
15. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
16. Network
17. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
18. A Clockwork Orange
19. American Beauty
20. Shichinin No Samurai

I wish I had seen more pre-1960 movies at this point, but I'm 19 so I think I've seen more than most people my age.

My top 20 would be likely be different if I had seen more from my "List of Films to See Before I Die," but I'm comfortable with these.

I'm actually amazed though. I see some lists that are 100% different from mine, but I can't argue against any of them. This will be tough.

Freauxzen, if you need writers I'd be glad to help.

quote:

---

How so? the F/X? What all came out that year? aside from the Matrix and SW Ep I

---

I've said it before: as much as The Matrix annoys people, it's still one of the most important films in the past 25 or so years. Outside of that you've got...

Fight Club
American Beauty
Sixth Sense
Iron Giant
Toy Story 2
Man on the Moon
All About My Mother
American Pie
Being John Malkovich
Blair With Project
Magnolia
South Park
The Insider
Stir of Echoes
Virgin Suicides
Ravenous
Dogma
eXistenZ
Identity

And that's off the top of my head I'm sure there's some more. I own most of those hence why I know them.

Few years are that strong or inventive. You've got the major debut of multiple directors (Mangold, Coppola, Jonez, Bird, Shyamalan), film styles and techniques. The breakthrough and fine-tuning for others (Cronenberg, Smith, Mann, Fincher, Anderson, Almodovar) who would truly come into their own later (Cronenberg, Mann Almodovar and Anderson are multiple nominees now for best director).

You've got productions which have large cultural impacts in The Matrix, Star Wars, American Pie, Blair Witch Project, South Park, American Beauty.

Kubrick's last film, Eyes Wide Shut and death. Even though the film itself is uneven, Kubrick's impact remains no matter what.

A truly underrated film that is a borderline masterpiece no one has seen in Ravenous. (Shameless plug for a movie everybody should see once)

Solid high school comedies in 10 Things I hate about you and Election (few can match these two before or since).

The overall quality is incredible. The only thing we see today that isn't well represented from this year is the superhero film.

And to top it all off, Office Space.

Every genre is represented quite well, which is always a good sign of filmmakers perfecting formulas and creating sub-genres. It's a year filled with great performances (Crowe, Carrey, Swank, Washington), fantastic writing, multiple cult films (Fight Club, Office Space, Boondock Saints),offbeat films, great animated features (TS2, Iron Giant, Tarzan). All around, can't be beat in terms of shear quality and importance.

As much as I wrote about this year, I'm positive I'm missing some pretty big movies...?

Big Fish

and the no brainer.....Shawshank Redemption

quote:

---

I personally believe 1994 and 1999 are the two greatest years in film history. Even better than 1939.

---

I'll go with 1994 being on a par with 1939, but not better. And 1999, I just don't see. Convince me.

quote:

---

Do you want me to use as is? Or do you want more time with them?

---

I guess I totally skipped the part in the instructions about putting them in order. Oops, here is the new list in order:

1. Good Will Hunting
2. A Clockwork Orange
3. The Shawshank Redemption
4. The Prestige
5. Fight Club
6. Schindler's List
7. Seven
8. Memento
9. 12 Angry Men
10.American History X
11.Ocean's 11
12.Rounders
13.Psycho
14.Layer Cake
15.Snatch
16.The Incredibles
17.American Beauty
18.Cinderella Man
19.Moulin Rouge
20.The Sixth Sense

quote:

---

Freauxzen

---

This is how IMDB calculates their top 250. I know we're not using some of the info in here, but perhaps this could help in creating your own formula.

The formula for calculating the Top Rated 250 Titles gives a true Bayesian estimate:

weighted rating (WR) = (v ÷ (v+m)) × R + (m ÷ (v+m)) × C

where:
R = average for the movie (mean) = (Rating)
v = number of votes for the movie = (votes)
m = minimum votes required to be listed in the Top 250 (currently 1300)
C = the mean vote across the whole report (currently 6.7)

Ok, I totally forgot two of my favorite (and thereby "Best" movies.) My edited version. Also, I'll write some if you need it.

New Version:

1. Miller's Crossing
2. Jaws
3. Citizen Kane
4. The Thing
5. The Philadelphia Story
6. Rear Window
7. Local Hero
8. Alien/Aliens
9. Casablanca
10. To Kill a Mockingbird
11. Fight Club
12. Sunset Blvd.
13. The Searchers
14. Blade Runner
15. Night of the Hunter
16. The Royal Tennenbaums
17. Arsenic and Old Lace
18. Evil Dead Trilogy
19. Jackie Brown
20. The Godfather, I & II
21. M
22. The Silence of the Lambs
23. Blue Velvet
24. Kill Bill, Vol. 1 & 2
25. North by Northwest
26. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
27. Raiders of the Lost Ark
28. The Seventh Seal
29. Raising Arizona
30. The Revenge Trilogy:
* Sympathy for Mr. Vengence
* Old Boy
* Lady Vengence
31. Orpheus
32. Pan's Labyrinth
33. LOTR Triolgy
34. Bubba Ho-Tep
35. Vertigo
36. The Empire Strikes Back
37. GoodFellas
38. Rushmore
39. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
40. Reservoir Dogs
41. Bringing Up Baby
42. No Country for Old Men
43. It Happened One Night
44. Bride of Frankenstein
45. Dazed and Confused
46. Platoon
47. Do the Right Thing
48. Night/Dawn of the Dead
49. Rio Bravo
50. The Exorcist
51. Fargo
52. Brazil
53. City of God
54. Children of Men

Crap!!! I already want to re-rank them.

quote:

---

I think we should do TV shows next, then rank the movies by genre.

---

Would be interesting, don't know if I could do them all.

quote:

---

When we're all done there should be a permanent sticky with the results.

---

Instead, we could use the list as a jumping point. Another film board I frequent keeps what they call a "Hall of Fame" sticky. Once every month or so they vote on a new film to be added to the list. They use links for information, small write ups, etc. It works well, but I never see TD use permanent stickies, while other boards use them quite often.

quote:

---

I'd be more than happy to write a brief synopsis/reflection or 2.

---

I'll add you to the running list.

quote:

---

My problem is that there were only 20 spots. I've seen enough older movies to know what belongs in my top 20, and what doesn't. That being said I made my list based both on a combination of what I consider great/important films and favorites I think all but maybe 2 qualify as both for me. I do see what you're talking about with some of the lists, but I wouldn't be suprised if several people didn't have the same problem as me.

---

I did what I consider the 20 best. It depends on what you consider great. Take Seven Samurai for instance (my number 1), can I really call it great when I know most people probably couldn't sit through a 3 hour, subtitled movie about rural Japanese society? I mean I can, I know Kurosawa's importance to every modern filmmaker, but does another person? And does that matter? To me it does to other's it doesn't. I don't think the Number 1 on the real list is going to surprise anybody, and no one (other than me, just not a fan) will disagree with it either.

Wong can you group up star wars for me, and add another movie if you want?

quote:

---

6. Empire Strikes Back
7. Lawrence of Arabia
8. Scarface
9. Star Wars

---

quote:

---

Tigress_TFD

---

Number 1-20 please, rankings mean points, so it matters.