re: "The 50 Best Films Ever Made"

quote:

---

I find it strange to not include Citizen Kane, the Godfather, etc.

---

You came to the wrong list buddy

What genre is the #1 movie?

quote:

---

familiar movies

---

like Troll 2?

This list is brought to you by

quote:

---

Wow. Someone likes formalistic movies which bear no resemblence to reality. I mean, almost every movie on that list which I'm familiar with can be summed up with "cool visuals, mediocre acting, oh, and its all a metaphor".

---

So somebody is a huge fan of avante-garde cinema. What's wrong with that? And some of those films are legitimate art. Spirit of the Beehive? Diary of a Country Priest? Come and See? The Mirror (Zerkalo)? Those are absolutely beautiful and poetic films that deserve to be on any list. And why can't films just simply be art? There's more to film than just good storytelling, dynamic characters, and "Oscar winning" acting. Instead of painting a picture somebody decided to make a movie instead.

quote:

---

Or the films are pure trash thrown in a list of pretentious films so the listmaker can claim they aren't pretentious.

---

There goes that P-word that I hate oh so very much. "Hey look, its a rare Czech movie that I've never heard of before. By golly it must be pretentious."

quote:

---

Hey, I like trashy films too. I just know they are trash. It's like a food critic ranking the Snickers bar as one of the best meals ever. Yeah, Snickers are really tasty, but its junk food.

---

I respect trash cinema as much as I respect Kurosawa at his best. Yea I said it. Trash cinema is a highly influential and enjoyable genre and deserves more respect.

i've seen 3 of those. very interesting list

is your friend Abed?

quote:

---

So somebody is a huge fan of avante-garde cinema. What's wrong with that?

---

Nothing, but a list of 50 with nothing but those seems more like he/she is trying too hard to be recognized as style more than substance.

quote:

---

And why can't films just simply be art?

---

They are. Some are great and others are not and that's all in the eye of the beholder. I have no problem with the list but it seems like I mentioned before, it seems like someone is trying to hard to convey an image of what they like. Why isn't Lynch on there? To pop for the list?

quote:

---

Trash cinema is a highly influential and enjoyable genre and deserves more respect.

---

I tell you what I do like on his list is all those ones from the 80's. The late 70's and 80's had some "great" ones. We should make a list devoted to this. Death Wish 3. I can remember me and my buds looking forward for that to come on HBO. "He killed the giggler, man." Class of 1984, They Live, Evil Dead II, Night of the Comet, I spit on your Grave.

***I found the Giggler. LINK

I like some of Russ Meyer but I think Beyond the Valley of the Dolls might be his pinnacle.

quote:

---

Nothing, but a list of 50 with nothing but those seems more like he/she is trying too hard to be recognized as style more than substance.

---

Especially when you have nothing but avant garde combined with obscure exploitation films. It really is a list that's trying too hard. It's like an effort was made to avoid "popular" avant garde (I mean, forget Lynch, is Lars Von Trier too mainstream?) And the exploitation films are also too "LOOK AT ME!" like the inclusing of Rolling Thunder over Rambo. Very similar films, but its not surprising they chose the more obscure of the two.

My Snickers bar analogy fails because people have heard of it. It would be like a food critic proclaiming an obscure candy bar from Romania as one of the greatest meals.

I think films ARE art. But my problem with the avant garde movement is that I feel they concentrate solely on visuals at the sacrifice of acting and narrative. This is okay occassionally, and I could see a sprinkling of avant garde films on a best ever (I love Koyaanisqatsi and Eraserhead, for example), but I think a list of nothing but high art and obscure trash is missing a huge chunk of moviemaking, namely writing and acting.

Ad, yeah, I think a lot of this list is so th author can point at everyone else and show off his obscure tastes. If you'll note, my original criticism of pretentious was NOT of the films I hadn't heard of, but the ones I had. La Possession? Really? Greatest movie ever?

You called the list a good balance. I strongly disagree.

People like what they like, and if that's your taste, that's your taste. I don't think its "wrong" per se, but I do think you're missing out on a lot of what movies can be. It's like admiring books solely for their grammar.

i have never seen or even heard of one movie on that list

LINK

So here is where the list comes from, a facebook board called 'I know more about movies than anyone I know'

As for the criteria of selection, the author slightly justifies himself when he says that he picked movies that were trying to do something new. I can respect that. It seems like most of the movie nerds I know are jaded by certain formulae of filmmaking. It's not until something bizarre, highly symbolic, or cleverly self-aware of itself and film history does a movie grab their attention. This guy may be symptomatic of that.

This shouldn't be evaluated as an objective attempt at listing the best movies but rather someones favorites. Props to him for having the curiosity to find the filmic voices that speak to him. I also admire his bucking of traditional filmmaking. Who's to say movies are bad or wrong for not heightening rigid structures that usually build up a movie? Some movies are way more mimetic and nonlinear because they want to challenge rather than satisfy the viewer.

Personally I'm not into exploitation movies at all so I refuse to justify those selections. Helluva lot more interesting of a sigh worthy list where everyone sedately gives a nod to citizen Kane, the godfather, seven samurai, etc

quote:

---

So here is where the list comes from, a facebook board called 'I know more about movies than anyone I know'

---

I'm an officer of that group


The group sucks now but it used to be run by the "Celluloid Sodomites" (it's just a joke they never took it too seriously) and they are the reason I know about Kurosawa, Tarkovsky, and all the other filmmakers that I love. I owe them a debt of gratitude.