[Tetragrammaton]

Another thread got me thinking about this, but I wonder how many people can think up their own personal top ten films of all time. Is it hard? What barely misses out? Do any directors appear more than once on your list? What eras appear more often than others?

Anyway, to start, here is mine:

1. Masculin, feminin (Jean-Luc Godard, 1966)
2. La dolce vita (Federico Fellini, 1960)
3. Au Hasard Balthazar (Robert Bresson, 1966)
4. The Godfather, Part II (Francis Ford Coppola, 1974)
5. Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941)
6. The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick, 2011)
7. Tokyo Story (Yasujiro Ozu, 1953)
8. 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968)
9. Passion of Joan of Arc (Carl Dreyer, 1927)
10. Andrei Rublev (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1966)

Other films that find themselves on and off my list include Raging Bull, Persona, Dr. Strangelove, The Great Dictator, Annie Hall, The Godfather, Contempt, La notte, Rashomon, and The Bicycle Thief.

[TorontoMatt]

I'm going to start a thread in order to show how hipster and pretentious I am.

[Wake Up]

at least you got that one out of your system, brah

[Theseventhson]

Yeah because those movies are super obscure bro lol show that hipster lol bro you got him lololol

[Tetragrammaton]

I don't think I picked a single obscure movie. When I was making it I thought it relied too much on famous classics.

I genuinely want to see other people's top tens, though.

[cshadows2887]

1. It's a Wonderful Life
2. Rear Window
3. Mary Poppins
4. West Side Story
5. Casablanca
6. The Empire Strikes Back
7. Top Hat
8. Ghostbusters
9. Duck Soup

After that, it's some combo of: Clue, Finding Nemo, My Fair Lady, Slumdog Millionaire, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, 12 Angry Men, Blade Runner, The Third Man, A Raisin in the Sun, Serenity, Arsenic and Old Lace, The Wizard of Oz, Wall-E, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and The Pink Panther.

I know my list is thin on foreign. There are a lot of foreign films I adore, but even the best ones just can't quite touch my favorite American movies (not speaking in terms of quality, just favorites). I always feel like I don't fully appreciate the nuance of them in translation. But some foreign flicks that would probably make my top 30 or 40: The Young Girls of Rochefort, Pan's Labyrinth, Ikiru, Black Orpheus, Spirited Away, The Sea Inside

Bring on the hate.

[achassi]

A shame that the phrase hipster became some terrible adjective to describe people who like things that you don't like or aren't aware of. I'll post my list later.

[Tetragrammaton]

Originally Posted by cshadows2887

1. It's a Wonderful Life
2. Rear Window
3. Mary Poppins
4. West Side Story
5. Casablanca
6. The Empire Strikes Back
7. Top Hat
8. Ghostbusters
9. Duck Soup

After that, it's some combo of: Finding Nemo, My Fair Lady, Slumdog Millionaire, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, 12 Angry Men, Blade Runner, The Third Man, A Raisin in the Sun, Serenity, Arsenic and Old Lace, The Wizard of Oz, Wall-E, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and The Pink Panther.

I know my list is thin on foreign. There are a lot of foreign films I adore, but even the best ones just can't quite touch my favorite American movies (not speaking in terms of quality, just favorites). I always feel like I don't fully appreciate the nuance of them in translation. But some foreign flicks that would probably make my top 30 or 40: The Young Girls of Rochefort, Pan's Labyrinth, Ikiru, Black Orpheus, Spirited Away, The Sea Inside

Bring on the hate.

I could hate, but I am interested in what you said about not appreciating the nuance of them in translation. I think I tend to like foreign films better because they are removed in that element. The nuances of language pass by, and I am left with the often much more concise and rigid subtitles. It forces me more to depend on the visual, which ultimately is what film is about.

[cshadows2887]

Originally Posted by Tetragrammaton

I could hate, but I am interested in what you said about not appreciating the nuance of them in translation. I think I tend to like foreign films better because they are removed in that element. The nuances of language pass by, and I am left with the often much more concise and rigid subtitles. It forces me more to depend on the visual, which ultimately is what film is about.

For me, every film is a product of its culture. It's made for audiences with common history, and a common language not just linguistically, but cinematically as well. And very rarely is an American viewer immersed in said culture enough to understand all those subtleties. Especially since so many great movies are tied directly into a nation's history or culture. I always feel like, no matter how much I love and appreciate a foreign film (even English-language ones), I'm never going to get everything the filmmaker intended for their audience.

Also, I appreciate visuals, but that's just one aspect of good films for me. I would very much balk at the idea that the visuals alone are "what film is about."

[Tetragrammaton]

You talk about films being a product of a culture, but you also included some very old films on your list. Is 1930's America less foreign to someone today then a 1990's French film? Different cultures exist, and some are very radically different, but one of the great things about art is that it tells us the similarities between such seemingly difficult barriers. Take Tokyo Story from my list. 1950's Japan is a world away, but the story is something anyone can understand: the difficulty of aging parents in staying in their busy adult children's lives.

[Dlemert]

1. Jurassic Park
2. There Will Be Blood
3. LOTR trilogy (always count these as one because I can't pick a favorite)
4. The Matrix
5. Memento
6. The Social Network
7. The Dark Knight trilogy (once again, just can't pick a favorite)
8. Raiders of the Lost Ark
9. Anchorman
10. Casino Royale

This way really hard. I'll probably change my mind and have a completely different looking list tomorrow.

[Tetragrammaton]

Originally Posted by Dlemert

1. Jurassic Park
2. There Will Be Blood
3. LOTR trilogy (always count these as one because I can't pick a favorite)
4. The Matrix
5. Memento
6. The Social Network
7. The Dark Knight trilogy (once again, just can't pick a favorite)
8. Raiders of the Lost Ark
9. Anchorman
10. Casino Royale

This way really hard. I'll probably change my mind and have a completely different looking list tomorrow.

I say this to people a lot, but those dinosaurs in Jurassic Park still look more real to me then the CGI stuff that comes out today. It defined what dinosaurs are to me the way Jaws did for sharks.

[thesafeword]

Originally Posted by TorontoMatt

I'm going to start a thread in order to show how hipster and pretentious I am.

I hope you die tonight. Stop being a fucking idiot.

[majinsharingan]

1. Saving Private Ryan
2. Horrible Bosses
3. The Departed
4. Life is Beautiful
5. Youth in Revolt
6. The Empire Strikes Back
7. Say Anything
8. Letters from Iwo Jima/Flags of Our Fathers
9. The Shawshank Redemption
10. Die Hard/Die Hard with a Vengeance

[cshadows2887]

Originally Posted by Tetragrammaton

You talk about films being a product of a culture, but you also included some very old films on your list. Is 1930's America less foreign to someone today then a 1990's French film? Different cultures exist, and some are very radically different, but one of the great things about art is that it tells us the similarities between such seemingly difficult barriers. Take Tokyo Story from my list. 1950's Japan is a world away, but the story is something anyone can understand: the difficulty of aging parents in staying in their busy adult children's lives.

I still haven't seen any Ozu yet. So Tokyo Story could end up there for me when I see it. I'm not saying some stories don't cross barriers. I made a list of stuff that would be in my top 30 or so. That's the top 2% of all the movies I've ever seen (I'm right around 2,000 right now). But even those movies I find most universal have a disconnect I will never entirely bridge unless I develop a better knowledge of the culture. If I understand most of what a Japanese audience gets out of Ikiru, it stills stands with the all-time great movies. But it doesn't change the fact that I'm only understanding most of it.

But, yes, I would absolutely say I'm markedly more familiar with 20th century American culture than even more recent events in Poland or Italy.