The Honor Roll
Well, I promised the full, revised listing in January, but I only needed a single-weekend extension. As any university professor can tell you, that's not too bad for the middle of Winter Quarter, especially when you're assembling bit by bit as a way to make it through the month. Thank God for inspirational objects! Not every link is working—no need to "Leave a Comment" when I haven't even written up the entries yet—but Version 3.0 of my Top 100 Films has been fully uploaded to my newly domain-transferred website, complete with luscious illustrations. To wit, my personal Top 10:
Aren't those pretty? Let's have a look at the bottom ten, too, since sometimes those lower echelons strike a more unexpected chord than the topmost stuff:
Lots more, 80 more to be precise, where those came from. And since I still haven't determined what kind of shindig I'll throw where you currently see "Text Here" on every individual link, feel free to toss out some suggestions. Conventional capsule reviews? Profiles of a favorite or pivotal sequence? I don't necessarily have the same personal connection to all of these titles that leads to the kind of garrulity you see in the Favorites (soon to be revived, via everyone's preferred Georgian-Israeli movie on the theme of delayed nuptials and dangerous liaisons). So, I'll have to hit the Top 100 write-ups from some different angle. Feast your eyes on these images, and then bend my ears with ideas.
Aren't those pretty? Let's have a look at the bottom ten, too, since sometimes those lower echelons strike a more unexpected chord than the topmost stuff:
Lots more, 80 more to be precise, where those came from. And since I still haven't determined what kind of shindig I'll throw where you currently see "Text Here" on every individual link, feel free to toss out some suggestions. Conventional capsule reviews? Profiles of a favorite or pivotal sequence? I don't necessarily have the same personal connection to all of these titles that leads to the kind of garrulity you see in the Favorites (soon to be revived, via everyone's preferred Georgian-Israeli movie on the theme of delayed nuptials and dangerous liaisons). So, I'll have to hit the Top 100 write-ups from some different angle. Feast your eyes on these images, and then bend my ears with ideas.
Labels: Masterpieces, Site Features
posted by NicksFlickPicks at 12:00 PM
13 Comments:
Wow! I didn't realise The Piano had slipped slightly from the top slot, though I can't argue with Persona, which is in at #3 for me. I've been planning to revise my own list for ages, and you may have just given me the incentive. As it stands we have a 25% overlap! (But I've yet to see a whopping 20 of your choices -- this will go down to 19 in March, as there's a Jeanne Dielman screening I've earmarked...)
I will also have the pleasure of inserting 42nd St, Gospel, and Hannah, among quite a few of my own new additions...
The Piano slip is indeed the huge, buried lead of this feature. Having maintained forever that it's the best movie I've ever seen as well as my favorite (what a coincidence!), I felt I am suddenly ready after 15+ years to concede that other movies may be even more brilliant. But only two.
Can't wait for your own revisions.
The whole business is agony though. For instance, I'm debating whether to do a straight swap of La ronde for Earrings of Madame De..., which I think I prefer now. But La ronde! Decisions, decisions...
i'm so excited to delve into this (i think i need to just put half of it on my rental queue) but i am bummed that Nashville still hovers outside the top 10.
i have never seen earrings...
STILL
Still the most interesting top 100 list that I've read. Can't wait to see the write-ups or what have you.
And I've been to the exact place where that scene from The Piano was shot!
@Tim: I haven't seen La Ronde! Horrors.
@Nathaniel: As you no doubt reiterate when someone asks why So & So is "only" your 18th favorite actress of all time... 11 is pretty great! I know you know that. I wish 12 or 15 were the new 10, though. I love all those movies so much.
@Brooke: Are you trying to kill me with jealousy? I'll make it one day, even if I have to boat over from Scotland, with a tiny, vomiting girl by my side...
It's great, but sadly, New Zealand isn't really lit like a Jane Campion film. A tragic lesson learned during my youth.
Slightly related, it's embarassing how little The Piano is acclaimed over here. I've ranted and raved about this to anybody who listens, but the Lord of the Rings is about as much a New Zealand film as The Reader is a German film. The Piano is a little bit of an ode to our landscapes. Then again, maybe it's because the muddy forests of The Piano aren't as fun for tourists as Middle Earth is.
Wow. The Piano and Modern Times slipped. Psycho and The Godfather finally made it in. Weird day it is around the Flick Picks.
I can't say how thrilled I am to see Fanny and Alexander (my own #1) make the list. It's also satisfying to see the two Malicks climb even higher - after 4-5 viewings The Thin Red Line still serenely blows my mind.
I must see Sansho the Bailiff...
You're an inspiration. I haven't attempted piecing together a personal Top 100 since I was a teenager, but I think I need to revisit the matter this year.
I had the pleasure on Sunday night of seeing the new print of "Barry Lyndon" at the BFI Southbank, amazingly not having seen it since I was eleven years old. It immediately occurred to me that it should jump right into my own Top 10, post-haste, probably snuggling somewhere roughly between "The Spirit of the Beehive" and "When Harry Met Sally..." But then I got to wondering how many other films have been denied such a renewed impact on me because I never got to see them in their full splendour on a cinema screen. It makes me a little sad.
Anyway, "Persona." Yes. That is all.
As someone who hasn't delved into classic cinema as much as he would like and, hence, can't have much of an opinion about many of these titles - can I just say how utterly devastated I am that both Birth and Jackie Brown no longer have a home on your list.
Unless they do and I just scrolled right past them...? Please let that be the case.
@Kamikaze Camel: Um, didn't Birth and Jackie Brown always have (and still retain) their place on Nick's Top 100 Favourites list, rather than his Top 100 Best?
Since few people have carped to answering Nick's call for suggestions, here's mine:
We could say that a lot more "objective" factors go into making a list of 100 Best Movies over a similar list of Favourites: historical, cultural, aesthetic, social, etc. What contributions did each movie make that secured it its spot on the list, and not higher or lower?
To me, the "and not higher or lower" part is most interesting. For instance, The Godfather tends to hang around the throne on plenty of lists, or is omitted from them altogether; here it dangles at #82. Why?
Especially the case for genre pictures: why does your pick stand out from others of its ilk?
And as a wildcard: if you could retain at most five minutes (!) of each movie, and lose the rest forever, which would you keep and why?
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