Board 8 > The SephG Top 250 [movies] - Topic II: the top 75

(+) Yeah! (+)

Pulp Fiction's biggest flaw is that Tarantino's raging foot fetish was spent on an actress with kinda ugly feet (and maybe all the dialogue between Bruce Willis and his French girlfriend).

I will say that the movie's major character death is one of the most shocking moments I can ever remember in a film - not so much because Tarantino chose to do it, but because he did it in a way that was so quick, grimy, and without any buildup. Such a ballsy move.
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All great choices so far. Ive wanted the OOP Criterion Chungking Express blu for ages and already seriously considered splurging for it if Im so lucky as to get $100 for guessing the top 10 correctly.

The only part of Pulp Fiction I dont love is the pawn shop stuff with Zed. Ive seen more fucked up movies but thats just kinda an ugly moment in my opinion. Its still a fantastic movie
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Chungking Express so good

Still haven't splurged on the Criterion as its been rumored for years we'd be getting a WKW collection.
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chungking express is great. didn't see that one coming at all.

the watch flashback still makes me laugh every time i see it, especially the way christopher walken says "so he hid it, in the one place he knew he could hide something: his ass."

2001's amazing soundtrack deserves a mention too!
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The top 10 science fiction movies of all time
1. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
2. Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977)
3. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
4. Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
5. Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983)
6. Jurassic Park (1993)
7. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
8. Akira (1988)
9. The Man from Earth (2007)
10. Alien (1979)

A lot of blockbusters, but I am feeling pretty good about that list.
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I have not seen a single one of your top ten yet, Sephy.

No, I have not seen Pulp Fiction, believe it or not.
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ExThaNemesis posted...

I have not seen a single one of your top ten yet, Sephy.

No, I have not seen Pulp Fiction, believe it or not.

Jesus Christ what

No 2001 either?
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Maybe ExTha has seen this one...

#5. The Godfather
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/1c/Godfather_ver1.jpg
Dir: Francis Ford Coppola
Genre: Drama, Crime
Year: 1972

The reason why The Godfather works so well and has endured for so long is simple: patience. Everything about this movie deliberately takes its time for one reason or another, and thus it fails to succumb to the itching desire for action that leads to the downfall of most mob movies. Take the first scene for example. The opening note of the score lingers as the first request for Don Corleone begins, and the conversation takes place slowly and softly. Were able to absorb every word of the brilliant script, were able to get a sense of the characters during the silent beats, and were able to sense growing tension and emotion as these moments go on.

The entire film is paced just like this, and its what makes it feel so epic without feeling bloated. FFC and company are able to touch on so many themes of American life with this methodical pace--family, loyalty, crime, corruption, love, trust. I could go on. You could probably pick from a dozen characters and performances as all-time greats--Marlon Brandos Don Corleone being the obvious choice for #1. But Al Pacino delivers and incredibly understated role as Michael, and its one of the most effective arcs, from all-American good boy to ruthless mob boss, that weve ever seen. The Godfather has earned its rightful place in our culture--challenging decades of movies, television, video games, etc. to try to match it. But all have fallen short. It truly is the greatest of its kind.
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Still nope!
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I think you should make it a goal of yours to watch at least the top 10 this summer.
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I will give it a shot.

I'm not a big movie guy tbh
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2001 is my all-time favorite, and I couldn't agree more with you about it STILL being arguably the best looking movie ever made. I watched it a bit later - my mid 20s I think - and I couldn't believe it was a fucking decade older than Star Wars. And like with Star Wars, I expected an exclusively in-space movie, so imagine my shock when the first 20 minutes depict "The Dawn of Man" with warring monkey tribes. No movie has ever subverted my expectations more, or made me blink less. In terms of scope, technical mastery, and artistic vision, it towers over any other film I've ever seen. Its reputation has only grown, and at this point, if people wanna bring up the pompous "consensus GOAT film" argument, I think it narrows down to this, Citizen Kane, and maybe The Godfather.

I took my brother to see it last summer during its 50th anniversary re-release, and man, it's also an AMAZING theater movie. The sound overpowered me in that IMAX theater.
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Godfather is the only one of the top 10 I've seen so far
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Only one of the top 10 I haven't seen yet is Chungking Express.

ExThaNemesis posted...

I'm not a big

We know
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CaptainOfCrush posted...

I took my brother to see it last summer during its 50th anniversary re-release, and man, it's also an AMAZING theater movie. The sound overpowered me in that IMAX theater.

Oh absolutely. I've seen it in the theaters twice and it's a borderline religious experience.

The "Star Gate" scene and hearing the soundtrack with theater quality speakers absolutely make it essential.
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#4. Citizen Kane
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/ce/Citizenkane.jpg
Dir: Orson Welles
Genre: Drama, Mystery
Year: 1941

SephG Superlative: The greatest movie of the 1940s

Growing up, Citizen Kane was always the gold standard of filmmaking. To the Ebert generation of film critics, it was the Sgt. Pepper of movies--the unanimous crowning achievement in the medium that could never be surpassed regardless of what gets made in the future. Nowadays some critics have deviated from that mantra in order to separate their opinions from the pack, but the point still stands. Citizen Kane is generally considered to be the greatest movie ever made. And it truly deserves all the praise it gets.

Little needs to be said about how groundbreaking this movie is. Orson Welles took the art form forward with a giant leap in technical expertise and cinematic storytelling. The framing of the shots, the lighting, and the camera work are unmatched by anything in American cinema until Kubricks heyday. But more than just the technical evolution it inspired, Citizen Kane is also a watershed moment in visual storytelling. Its story is like the Moby-Dick of films--it's both an epic story on its own, but also a universal allegory that can be applied across a number of topics, and will continue to motivate scholarly thought for decades to come.

Charles Foster Kane is pretty much the embodiment of America in its rise to superpowerdom in the 20th century. A rags to riches arc that is fraught with moral dilemmas, misrepresentation by outsiders, and a touch of mystery around his ultimate motivations. Orson Welles delivers a very nuanced performance of one of the most fascinating characters in fiction--one that leaves us ultimately sympathetic and also in awe of the man hes portraying. The ending of Citizen Kane is still, in my opinion, the most satisfying resolution to a mystery twist in movie history, and I envy anyone watching it for the first time without it having already been spoiled by pop culture references.

Citizen Kane is probably the easiest argument to make for best movie ever, but there are three films ahead of it that Ill accept the challenge to defend first.
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We gonna make it through the whole top ten without seeing a single one!!!
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The Last Jedi is coming up, don't worry
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that's one I wish I hadn't seen
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i managed to see citizen kane without having the ending spoiled for me!
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CaptainOfCrush posted...

I took my brother to see it last summer during its 50th anniversary re-release, and man, it's also an AMAZING theater movie. The sound overpowered me in that IMAX theater.

Went to see that too. The screech the monolith makes in the film's middle hurt my ears, but the rest was amazing.

I just cant get anything out of 2001.
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Throw that junk.
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While we are on the subject of our movie ignorance I must admit I've only seen 3 of the 7 movies so far.
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There's not a single movie in the Top 10 that I wouldn't recommend to anyone, so hopefully it inspires some watch-throughs!
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#3. A Clockwork Orange
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/73/A_Clockwork_Orange_%281971%29.png
Dir: Stanley Kubrick
Genre: Suspense/Thriller, Crime
Year: 1971

SephG Superlative: The greatest suspense/thriller ever; the greatest adaptation ever; the greatest British movie ever; the greatest European movie ever; the greatest movie of the 1970s

Watching A Clockwork Orange is like a masochist getting smacked in the face for the first time. At first youre shocked, kind of disturbed at what just happened. But as the sting settles in, you start to realize, against all sense of logic and human evolution, that you really enjoyed it, and you want more. I must have been like 12 or 13 when I watched A Clockwork Orange for the first time. It left me feeling pretty weird and bad at what I just watched--as it would make most people that age feel. But as the final note of Beethovens Ninth kept lingering in my head, I knew that I had to have more. And my journey into Kubrick and into arthouse cinema began.

A Clockwork Orange is a rare instance of an adaptation of a literary classic done right--precisely because Kubrick made it his own. Everything from the colors to the costumes to the eerie electronic soundtrack is just brimming with originality and creativity. To this day, there has been nothing quite like that opening pan across the Korova Milk Bar with Alex and his droogs sitting upon the colorful nude mannequins. It evokes a feeling thats incomparable and hard to describe. But thats A Clockwork Orange in a nutshell.

A Clockwork Orange is sometimes criticized for being exploitative--violence for the sake of violence, with no real purpose. However, this is a lazy misreading of the film, in my opinion. Perhaps more than any of Kurbicks major films, A Clockwork Orange has a real moral truth to it: that humans can be inherently evil, and societys attempt at blanket rehabilitation is an ultimately fruitless and dangerous endeavor. All of this is telegraphed in one look, one stare from the inimitable Malcolm McDowell at the very end, as Beethovens Ninth reaches a climax and that lingering note sticks in your brain--when you realize you liked the feeling of that smack across the face, and you want more.
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#2. Mulholland Drive
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0f/Mulholland.png
Dir: David Lynch
Genre: Drama, Mystery
Year: 2001

SephG Superlative: The greatest drama ever; the greatest movie of the 2000s

Mulholland Drive is the final culmination of everything avant garde cinema has been building toward for a century. No, that is not an overstatement. Mulholland Drive is weird, abstract, impossible to dissect in a logical manner. But its also the best representation for why that doesnt necessarily matter in the world of filmmaking. It can still leave you breathless anyway.

David Lynchs magnum opus opens with a dreamlike swing dance competition set against a generic purple backdrop. Betty/Diane (Naomi Watts) enters the spotlight and is crowned the winner. Thats where the traditional narrative of Mulholland Drive ends, and the phantasmagoria begins. The first half of Mulholland Drive is a neo-noir, Nancy Drew-like mystery wherein Naomi Watts tries to help a stranger with amnesia find out her identity. The mystery is absorbing in itself, but its the seemingly unrelated side stories--a director getting strong-armed by the mob, a hitman trying to find a mysterious black book, a nightmarish homeless man living in a man's dreams and behind a diner (the scariest 2 seconds Ive ever seen in a movie), and a stage play that doubles as a window into another reality--that really brings the intrigue to a whole other level.

I wont even begin to talk about the second half in the hopes that someone reading this can watch the movie for the first time without any preconceptions, but lets just say that its one of the most insane and engrossing pivots of all time. The tonal shift accompanies this change in narrative and the fantastical first half seems to devolve into a true nightmare in the second. And this is where the avant garde finally reaches its natural apex. Without any push from the narrative, we start to understand what is happening through nothing more than symbols, lighting, cinematography. The film strip itself takes over and tells us all we need to know to reveal the story, and it is a transcendental experience. Some may get it right away, others may require repeat viewings. But one thing is for sure: Mulholland Drive is the product of a true artist creating his own abstract take on Hollywood and what it means to have an identity in that city--a story that could only be captured by film itself.
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aww, i was hoping mulholland drive (one of my top 5 movies) would be #1.

all of my six guesses were correct, which also means i literally have no idea what #1 is gonna be!
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Mr Lasastryke posted...

i literally have no idea what #1 is gonna be!

NO ONE'S EVER REALLY GONE
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Great choice for #1, really looking forward to the write-up. More people need to watch it.
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The Godfather - I agree that it's a deliberately "patient" movie. I honestly wasn't too engrossed my first time through - not because it was an abstract or strange film to follow, but because there was such an abundance of characters and relationships. It's a Shakespearean play in a contemporary setting. One can also argue it's the "best acted" movie ever. Everyone from Brando on down gives an incredible performance.

Kane - My grandma, who is now 85 and battling dementia, was a great admirer of everything Hollywood from the 1940s-50s. Even now in her deteriorated state, she can casually rattle off dozens of stars. I've spent quite a few evenings with her watching the oldies, so it surprised me that she had never seen Citizen Kane. We watched it about a decade ago, and I shit you not, she called the plot twist like an hour into the movie. I played dumb as best I could, but I couldn't fucking believe it.

Clockwork Orange - This one is too much for me. I know there's a deeper meaning to the violence, but the sheer way it almost revels in rape and sexual assault makes it very difficult for me to appreciate, let alone enjoy.

Mulholland Drive - I was also hoping this would be #1. I watched it very recently (maybe a year ago) and had no idea what was happening with the plot, but that didn't stop the movie from blowing my mind. I remember watching it with my gf and muttering near the ending "I had no idea this was gonna be so good", to which she immediately agreed. I rewatch and couple YouTube vids later, I feel I have some understanding of what Lynch was trying to convey, but nothing will top that first viewing where I understood nothing and felt everything.
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CaptainOfCrush posted...

Kane - My grandma, who is now 85 and battling dementia, was a great admirer of everything Hollywood from the 1940s-50s. Even now in her deteriorated state, she can casually rattle off dozens of stars. I've spent quite a few evenings with her watching the oldies, so it surprised me that she had never seen Citizen Kane. We watched it about a decade ago, and I s*** you not, she called the plot twist like an hour into the movie. I played dumb as best I could, but I couldn't f***ing believe it.

u got played
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I'll post the #1 when this gets to 300 so people have time to comment on the others
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Have you ever heard the Tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise?
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Most Quotable Media is that way
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Huh?
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I love Mulholland Drive! Its in my top 10 for sure. Have you seen Inland Empire? I havent but have been wanting to check it out for a long while.
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i haven't seen inland empire but when i was studying media and culture, one of my teachers described it as "mulholland drive on steroids" lol.

i love david lynch but that might be a bit TOO much, even for me.
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I like Inland Empire more than Lost Highway, but it's a little long and the digital composition is a bit ugly. Some people really love it though.
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I love every Lynch film Ive seen: Eraserhead, The Elephant Man, Blue Velvet, Fire Walk with Me and Mulholland Drive.

Eager to see the rest, and overdue.
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wallmasterz posted...

I love every Lynch film Ive seen: Eraserhead, The Elephant Man, Blue Velvet, Fire Walk with Me and Mulholland Drive.

Eager to see the rest, and overdue.

I assume you watched Twin Peaks and The Return?
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I really can't get into Lynch much, or surrealist movies in general. I think his are often too heavy that it creates a big disconnect for me. Nothing wrong with people liking that, it just doesn't appeal to me. I certainly love semi-surrealist movies that have somewhat of an absurd premise where the characters still act believably. Woman in the Dunes in particular is one of my all time favorites surrealist movies, which by the way, your list is severely lacking in Hiroshi Teshigahara and Masaki Kobayashi, who are pretty much on the same level of Akira Kurosawa in terms of classic Japanese cinema.
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I'd say the two most conventional Lynch films - Elephant Man and The Straight Story - are also very good and may be his most emotionally resonant because they're so much easier to follow.

I haven't seen Inland Empire for somewhat the same reason; I fucking love Lynch but I'm not sure I can make it through three hours of his madness. Also, that shot of Laura Dern's face might legit be too terrifying.
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TomNook posted...

your list is severely lacking in Hiroshi Teshigahara and Masaki Kobayashi, who are pretty much on the same level of Akira Kurosawa in terms of classic Japanese cinema.

My list is definitely short on silent films and foreign films. I plan on spending some time catching up on those in the near future!
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Gonna have to come up with a list of recommendations for omissions.
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Menji posted...

Gonna have to come up with a list of recommendations for omissions.

I would absolutely love that

I started from a list of 1000, so certain omissions were intentional
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drumroll...
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#1. Hoop Dreams
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4f/Hoop_dreamsposter.jpg
Dir: Steve James
Genre: Documentary, Sports
Year: 1994

The greatest documentary ever; the greatest sports movie ever; the greatest American movie ever; the greatest movie of the 1990s;
THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER MADE

The pieces of literature and art that I consider to be the greatest are those that work on both the smallest and biggest of levels. Pieces of fiction (or nonfiction) that can tell a story about an individual while also capturing the essence of something much larger--a grander narrative about a time, a place, or some kind of universal element of human nature. Hoop Dreams is exactly that kind of film.

On the surface, Hoop Dreams is an extremely riveting documentary that follows the high school basketball careers of two boys in inner city Chicago over several years. But it is much bigger than that. Within the sprawling 3 hour documentary, it is also the story of the American Dream, of the urban experience in the U.S., of father/son relationships--and, perhaps most universally, of the perils of ambition, especially when carrying the ambitions of others.

In the midst of this truly epic storytelling, we also are treated to a master class in documentary filmmaking. The atmosphere and setting are established perfectly in every shot. The forlorn jazz score is like a Chicago winter for your eyes and rises at the perfect time to elevate all of the pathos, both tragic and triumphant. The subjects of the film are about as honest and real as it gets. Nothing is staged, and all of the most intimate moments are captured gracefully to make you feel like you yourself are a part of these families.

Theres a moment toward the end of the film when one of the two boys is talking about how the dreams of becoming an NBA player have been foisted upon him by others. Paraphrasing a bit, it goes something like: A lot of people come up to me and say Dont you forget about me when you make it big. Well, I just want to ask them, Will you forget about me if I dont? Theres so much poignancy in almost every scene in this film, and it all comes from a place of reality. Were watching these kids grow up under enormous pressure, both internal and external. However, were also watching them learn from this pressure and grow to be men--not just basketball players.

Hoops Dreams is life on film. Its life in the early 1990s but also life throughout human existence. Its a profound example of what the medium can capture unlike any other art form. And its, simply, the greatest movie ever made.

P.S. Nineteen motherfucking ninety-four strikes again.
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Congrats to @wallmasterz for being the first to correctly guess the top 10! I honestly was kinda pissed that someone was able to get it on the first shot, but I'm actually pretty impressed that it was done through deduction and not random guessing. Only on board 8!

Anyway, PM me your Venmo deets so you can claim your $100 and buy that Chungking Express blu-ray ^_~

wallmasterz posted...

Spoilers for the top 10

Citizen Kane
8 1/2
2001: A Space Odyssey
A Clockwork Orange
The Godfather
Apocalypse Now
Chungking Express
Hoop Dreams
Pulp Fiction
Mulholland Drive

I put a lot of thought into those picks, Im super confident in six of them. One of my 60s picks, the 70s one I asked about and two of the 90s ones being the main sources of uncertainty

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