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RE: great badir's top 150 films - 16/2/2006 1:45:12 PM

great_badir

Posts: 4172
Joined: 6/10/2005
From: A breaking rope bridge in the middle of the jungle

93 Fantasia, Various directors (1940)
Forget Snow White. Forget Pinocchio. The real jewel in Disney's crown is this slice of "wasted-on-kids" animated nirvana. Fantasia is about as adventurous as traditional 2-D animation ever got (and probably ever will get) and matched with the gorgeous visuals that still look fresh as a daisy after nearly 70 years are some really high foreheaded pieces of classical music - Mussorgsky and Stravinsky? In a kid's cartoon?!?!?!?! Oh yeah. But that's part of the problem with Fantasia - it's a long animated film (not cartoon) that must surely have been aimed at adults or, at the very least, older children, but it was automatically marketed at kids due to the big-eared Disney mantle. However, it's simply breathtaking stuff from start to finish and an enormous technical achievement. If Disney (as distinct from Pixar) never make a decent cartoon again (which is highly possible judging by the last decade's output), it's fortunate that Fantasia is still around to show what the Mouse House was once capable of. Special mention:

Though it's lacking that certain something that made its predecessor so jaw-dropping, Fantasia 2000 is still a worthy watch. Showing off more animated styles (one sequence even alludes to anime), 2000 feels more like a 21st century adendum to show off what can be achieved with new technology than a stand-alone feature. Maybe it's the rather awkward "guest" cameos. Maybe it's the less inspired choices of music. I don't know, but it doesn't compare to the majesty of Fantasia. To be fair, it IS a good film and well worth watching. Just don't be surprised if it doesn't leave you breathless like the first one.

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RE: great badir's top 150 films - 16/2/2006 1:45:28 PM

bub

Posts: 2816
Joined: 30/9/2005
From: A soon to be undead filled missile silo

This list just gets better and better. They don't call you Great for nothing

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Post #: 92

RE: great badir's top 150 films - 16/2/2006 1:53:04 PM

great_badir

Posts: 4172
Joined: 6/10/2005
From: A breaking rope bridge in the middle of the jungle

92 Woyzeck, Werner Herzog (1979)
Shot back to back with Nosferatu, Phantom Der Nacht in no time at all, Herzog's quickie take on Georg Buchner's play features an acting masterclass by a none-more intense Klaus Kinski in the title role. By far the best of ther numerous big screen versions, Herzog and his crew worked machine-like and reeled the whole thing off in an amazing 18 days (a feat in itself, even more so when you consider that after Nosferatu the returning cast and crew had a break of less than a week to refresh themselves between the two projects), Woyzeck's genius lies in the slow build-up to the now legendary climax, where Kinski/Woyzeck unleashes all of his pent up emotional and sexual frustration on poor Eva Mattes. Just goes to show that even when there's no time or money, talented people can still stump up the goods.

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Post #: 93

RE: great badir's top 150 films - 16/2/2006 1:54:45 PM

great_badir

Posts: 4172
Joined: 6/10/2005
From: A breaking rope bridge in the middle of the jungle

quote:

ORIGINAL: bub

This list just gets better and better. They don't call you Great for nothing

Thanks.

Though to be fair "they" never did call me great. I just called myself it. Well, i'm not CALLING myself great, it's just from a film. Um......

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Post #: 94

RE: great badir's top 150 films - 16/2/2006 1:59:57 PM

great_badir

Posts: 4172
Joined: 6/10/2005
From: A breaking rope bridge in the middle of the jungle

91 The Haunting, Robert Wise (1963)
One of the most effectively scary films of all time (watch it at night with all the lights off and the sound cranked right up), Wise's initial B-grade picture has gone onto become the milestone of haunted house movies. Rather than cast internationally famous faces (Russ Tamblyn was about as familiar as the cast got), the director wisely went for experienced stage actors who could react better to nothing than most screen veterans. Whilst Jan De Bont's sacreligeous remake went OTT with the CGI, the most special the effects got in Wise's original were in the sound department - way before the young turks of the 70s began to take sound seriously, usually uncredited sound genius Desmond Briscoe (who would later become legendary for his work on BBC's 1972 creepfest The Stone Tape) was experimenting with all sorts of effects and recording techniques. Just watch the scene when something's trying to break the door down - something so simple is turned into something absolutely wet pants worthy! And let's not forget the ahead-of-its time lesbian subtext!

Not so special mention:

Owen Wilson and Liam Neeson, what were you thinking?!?!? Money, presumably. Jan De Bont's tear-making rejig reeks of awfulness. So much so, i'm not even going to dignify it with its nane................which......is the same as the original. Bad acting, bad effects, bad editing, bad makeup. Just bad. Quite how it went on to make as much as it did (even though it was still a flop) is unfathomable.

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Post #: 95

RE: great badir's top 150 films - 16/2/2006 3:35:46 PM

great_badir

Posts: 4172
Joined: 6/10/2005
From: A breaking rope bridge in the middle of the jungle

90 One Day In September, Kevin Macdonald (2000)
Much has been written about the disasterous Munich '72 Olympics over the years and many remember watching in disbelief as German officials ordered the games to continue whilst the majority of the Israeli athletes were being held hostage. Macdonald's doc is part Errol Morris style talking heads and part nail-biting thriller. Backed up with contemporary interviews is actual footage of both the games and the crisis, as well as a detailed blueprint of the final ambush. Instead of finger pointing, Macdonald lets the perps (in this case, the one surviving Black September member and German officials present at the time) pretty much admit to being ill prepared for the situation, and the witnesses/relatives air their own feelings. One Day... has received plenty of backlash since its release, most of it centred on Michael Douglas' narration and Macdonald's own allusion to Errol Morris. Well, I think Douglas's narration works perfectly and don't really see a problem in a young film-maker paying homage to one of his film-making heroes. Otherwise, criticism has also been levelled about it being pro-Israeli. And pro-Palestine. In other words, it merely presents an unbiased document of the incident. Special mention:

Tough, gritty, bullshit free dramatisation of the Munich affair sticks to the facts and never takes the easy cinematic route. Brilliant performances (especially from Franco Nero and William Holden) amd an ultra-realistic feel dominate William A Graham's 21 Hours At Munich (1976), which is even more amazing considering it was made for TV. It's a VERY grim film, but just as unbiased as Macdonald's documentary. Recently released on DVD, it's a gem waiting to be discovered.

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Post #: 96

RE: great badir's top 150 films - 16/2/2006 4:23:18 PM

DanielFullard

Posts: 1025
Joined: 19/10/2005
From: Durham, England

This list just gets better and better.

Glad to see Woyzeck in there. Any more of Herzog to come?

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Post #: 97

RE: great badir's top 150 films - 16/2/2006 4:26:35 PM

great_badir

Posts: 4172
Joined: 6/10/2005
From: A breaking rope bridge in the middle of the jungle

quote:

ORIGINAL: DanielFullard

This list just gets better and better.

Glad to see Woyzeck in there. Any more of Herzog to come?

Oooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhh yes.

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Post #: 98

RE: great badir's top 150 films - 16/2/2006 4:56:46 PM

DanielFullard

Posts: 1025
Joined: 19/10/2005
From: Durham, England

Fantastic.

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Post #: 99

RE: great badir's top 150 films - 17/2/2006 9:13:21 AM

great_badir

Posts: 4172
Joined: 6/10/2005
From: A breaking rope bridge in the middle of the jungle

89 Predator, John Mctiernan (1987)
Perhaps the only time we thought that Arnie might not actually make it to the end (after all, he only survives through sheer luck alone), Mctiernan's second film as director is probably (Die Hard aside) the pinnacle of his career to date, and a pinnacle he'll probably never reach again. Arnie is, for once, matched in braun by most of his co-stars (even Lethal Weapon scripter Shane Black bulked up for the role), especially the Predator itself, played by the late giant Kevin Peter Hall, dwarfing the Austrian Oak in the process. Predator is basically a jungle survival movie, elevated to insane action status thanks to the Predator's amazing weapons and nasty fetish for human skulls.

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RE: great badir's top 150 films - 17/2/2006 9:13:55 AM

great_badir

Posts: 4172
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From: A breaking rope bridge in the middle of the jungle

88 Police Story, Jackie Chan (1985)
Though Chan's films prior to this were known overseas, this was probably the first time most Western audiences got a proper look at Eastern film-makers blatant disregard for human safety. Chan's insane moment of genius (one of many) features some of the best scenes of his career - the hillside shanty town destruction, the playground fight, the shopping mall bust up (including the infamous slide down a pole wrapped with live christmas lights). These are just the stand-outs in a film with wall to wall martial arts brain-wrongs.

Special mention:

Forget the also-ran Police Story 3 and the multitude of confusingly titled Police Story 4s, Police Story 2 (1988) (whilst not being able to hold a candle to the first film) does contain two excellent sequences - a jaw dropping bar fight and a prolonged abandoned factory finale. Both scenes rank highly in Chan's fight sequence ouvre, even if the film as a whole doesn't.

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Post #: 101

RE: great badir's top 150 films - 17/2/2006 9:26:53 AM

great_badir

Posts: 4172
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From: A breaking rope bridge in the middle of the jungle

87 Office Space, Mike Judge (1999)
Most of Mike Judge's output has left me rather cold - I just couldn't connect with Beavis & Butthead on any level and King Of The Hill just seemed so bland. So it was with some surprise that I thought Office Space was a modern comedy masterpiece. So many good things about it - Milton, Lumbergh, Lawrence, printer violence, white middle class rap lover Michael Bolton - the list goes on. It's a massive punch in the air for every office-monkey the world over and mini-hero Milton is nothing short of character genius.

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Post #: 102

RE: great badir's top 150 films - 17/2/2006 9:27:22 AM

great_badir

Posts: 4172
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From: A breaking rope bridge in the middle of the jungle

86 Goodfellas, Martin Scorsese (1990)
The Godfather saga may well have an operatic sweep lacking from Goodfellas, but that's one of the things that makes Scorsese's mob drama so good. Whilst the viewer has to spend a good 9 hours to fully appreciate the many layered (and extended) Corleones, wild eyed Marty shoves us right into the life of petty crim Henry Hill and his two more experienced friends and we're hooked immediately. Goodfellas is a mob movie on speed - it's a FAST film and before we know it Henry's collecting his newpaper from the doorstep of his average home in Anytown, USA. Years before MTV got a hold on film, Thelma Schoonmaker was machine gunning her way through the editing, only holding back for the standard-bearer of steadicam shots and the brilliant sequence of slayings to the sound of Derek & The Dominos' Layla. Seminal stuff indeed!

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RE: great badir's top 150 films - 17/2/2006 9:27:50 AM

great_badir

Posts: 4172
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From: A breaking rope bridge in the middle of the jungle

85 Blazing Saddles, Mel Brooks (1974)
Proves that fart jokes are big and are clever. Just as the Western was in its death knell, Brooks pumped the genre full of low brow blood and made the word "harrumph" funny, took nebbish Gene Wilder and turned him into a 20th century comedy hero.

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Post #: 104

RE: great badir's top 150 films - 17/2/2006 9:28:11 AM

great_badir

Posts: 4172
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From: A breaking rope bridge in the middle of the jungle

84 Parents, Bob Balaban (1989)
Balaban's first major film was doomed to the bargain bin the minute it came out - after all, who was interested in a cheap cannibal flick starring Randy Quaid!! But take a look at Parents - yes it's cheap, yes it's (essentially) about cannibalism and yes it stars Randy Quaid. But it's also packed to the brim with biting satire, political sub-texts galore and some damn fine performances, particularly from an unusually restrained Quaid and his on screen son, played by Bryan Madorsky. Who hasn't been in anything since...
"What's for dinner?"
"Leftovers."
"...we always have leftovers. I would like to know what they were before they were leftovers."

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Post #: 105

RE: great badir's top 150 films - 17/2/2006 9:28:30 AM

great_badir

Posts: 4172
Joined: 6/10/2005
From: A breaking rope bridge in the middle of the jungle

83 Slap Shot, George Roy Hill (1977)
A bloody, sweary, sweaty, fashion ignorant film made by the director of feel-good Butch & Sundance and The Sting, and starring heart-throb Paul Newman. It's incredible how a good script can completely change those bringing it to life - if you'd have told people in the mid 70s that they'd soon be seeing Newman sporting an awful brown leather suit and telling some well-to-do woman that she was "fucked", chances are they wouldn't believe you. Come '77, however, and Newman was fighting his way through 2 hours of foul play and ice hockey violence. But what places Slap Shot in the halls of greatness (aside from the legendary Hanson Brothers) is its ensemble - Newman isn't just propped up by his co-stars, he's positively matched by some great characterisations from Strother Martin's slimy owner to Yvon Barrette's permanently ill goalie, and of course the Hansons - "I'M LISTENING TO THE FUCKING SONG!!"

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Post #: 106

RE: great badir's top 150 films - 17/2/2006 9:34:42 AM

adamdavidsmith

Posts: 2558
Joined: 1/12/2005

quote:

ORIGINAL: great_badir

=97 The Mission, Roland Joffe (1986)
Despite being a breathtaking film and featuring one of De Niro's best performances, The Mission has almost been forgotten over the years. Joffe steered his cast and crew through terrible conditions (intense heat, heavy rain storms, mosquitos, poor living conditions) and dysentry to produce an authentic tale of religion versus politics in 18th century South America. Jeremy Irons and De Niro battle it out for the acting nods (Irons' quiet and dignified magnetism vs. De Niro's enormous character arch), whilst top Brit DoP Chris Menges wins the day with his beautiful cinematography. Swinging from drama to all-out action sequences, it takes the viewer on a real emotional journey. It doesn't pull any punches either - it deals with a tough subject (christian missions in South America - good or bad?) and, like Joffe's earlier The Killing Fields, doesn't give any easy answers. Criticised (unfairly, in my opinion) for its fictional slant and a one sided portayal of the time and situation, The Mission still feels authentic enough to shake the criticisms off.

i've wanted to c that for a while know, looks like an interesting look at a culture not like our own.

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Post #: 107

RE: great badir's top 150 films - 17/2/2006 9:49:05 AM

Captain Black

Posts: 6328
Joined: 30/9/2005

quote:

ORIGINAL: great_badir

87 Office Space, Mike Judge (1999)
Most of Mike Judge's output has left me rather cold - I just couldn't connect with Beavis & Butthead on any level and King Of The Hill just seemed so bland. So it was with some surprise that I thought Office Space was a modern comedy masterpiece. So many good things about it - Milton, Lumbergh, Lawrence, printer violence, white middle class rap lover Michael Bolton - the list goes on. It's a massive punch in the air for every office-monkey the world over and mini-hero Milton is nothing short of character genius.

Michael Bolton: Why should I change my name? He's the one that sucks!

Superbly varied list great badir and your arguments can leave no one in doubt these are your actual views rather some cynically compiled 'kewl' list. Though that was probably eradicated due to the (worthy) inclusion of Transformers The Movie. Are you a professional writer in any capacity?

Just a few things though: Aliens is James Cameron's best film (begin the flame war!

) and surely* Airplane deserves to be higher.

*Yes, go on then.....

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Post #: 108

RE: great badir's top 150 films - 17/2/2006 10:14:44 AM

great_badir

Posts: 4172
Joined: 6/10/2005
From: A breaking rope bridge in the middle of the jungle

quote:

ORIGINAL: Captain Black

Superbly varied list great badir and your arguments can leave no one in doubt these are your actual views rather some cynically compiled 'kewl' list. Though that was probably eradicated due to the (worthy) inclusion of Transformers The Movie. Are you a professional writer in any capacity?

Just a few things though: Aliens is James Cameron's best film (begin the flame war!) and surely* Airplane deserves to be higher.

Well, I think Terminator is his best. And The Abyss is his second best. So nyah!

I've always wanted to be a film journalist/writer, but being that the pay is fairly shit for all but the very lucky few, i've never really ventured into it seriously. At the moment I can't afford to get a job where the perks outweigh the income, which is par for the course for most film journos.

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RE: great badir's top 150 films - 17/2/2006 12:14:10 PM

The Don

Posts: 1721
Joined: 30/9/2005

quote:

ORIGINAL: great_badir

86 Goodfellas, Martin Scorsese (1990)

My respect for you just fell one nodge there, mate (two actually, since you said baaad things about The Godfather).

It's now on 72948395978...

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Post #: 110

RE: great badir's top 150 films - 17/2/2006 12:23:22 PM

great_badir

Posts: 4172
Joined: 6/10/2005
From: A breaking rope bridge in the middle of the jungle

82 Nosferatu, eine Symphony des Grauens, FW Murnau (1922)
Still the best screen version of Stoker's novel, Murnau's freaky expressionist vampire is all pathos and doomed love. Whilst the melodrama, satirically mined so well in E Elias Merhige's Shadow Of The Vampire, has dated somewhat (c'mon - it's over 80 years old!!!!), it's still a breathtaking little film with oddly shaped Max Schreck giving the goods as the fanged nasty himself. Special mention:

Werner Herzog's creepily effective remake, Nosferatu - Phantom der nacht (1979), casts the pasty vamp as an even more lonely and pathetic figure than Murnau's original. Far from the powerful and fear inducing image we normally associate with Nos/Dracula, Kinski's Nos is frail, shy and probably scared of small chidlren. All of which helps us to feel real sympathy for a character who otherwise goes round killing people. Herzog utilises some of the same locations (and shots, like Gus Van Sant's Psycho remake, only not shit) as Murnau, but adds his own skewed view of the world to the mix. Especially noteable for its startling opening shots of the Mexican Guanajuato mummies. Not so special mention:

Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) has to be one of the most over-rated vampire films of all time. And yes, I AM including Dracula: Dead & Loving It. And Vamp. And I Bought A Vampire Motorcycle. And Embrace Of The Vampire. Appallingly acted, scripted, edited and executed and only worth it for Tom Waits' dirty cameo as Renfield. Otherwise, just an all-round unwelcome abuse of the senses. .

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RE: great badir's top 150 films - 17/2/2006 12:24:57 PM

great_badir

Posts: 4172
Joined: 6/10/2005
From: A breaking rope bridge in the middle of the jungle

quote:

ORIGINAL: The Don

since you said baaad things about The Godfather).

Hold up - I never said bad things about The Godfather. I LOVE The Godfather, even part 3!

Just cos it ain't in my top 150 doesn't mean I don't like it.

< Message edited by great_badir -- 17/2/2006 12:25:34 PM >

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RE: great badir's top 150 films - 17/2/2006 12:30:24 PM

great_badir

Posts: 4172
Joined: 6/10/2005
From: A breaking rope bridge in the middle of the jungle

81 Silent Movie, Mel Brooks (1976)
Prime slice of Brooksian silliness was the last consistently brilliant film Brooks made and is perhaps, along with The 12 Chairs, one of his most overlooked. Silent Movie is wall to wall slapstick of the highest order, with plenty of big name stars of the day (Burt Reynolds, Paul Newman, James Caan, Liza Minelli and Anne Bancroft) happy to come down to Brooks' level. Funniest sequence goes to the short but brilliantly timed bit of business with Sid Caesar ("slapstick just isn't funny any more!" at which point Sid's chair flips back, shoots under his desk and goes flying across the floor, with Caesar still on it), but the meetings with Reynolds, Caan and Minelli are also top notch. One warning though - lamest joke features Marcel Marceau uttering the film's only spoken line.

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RE: great badir's top 150 films - 17/2/2006 12:30:54 PM

The Don

Posts: 1721
Joined: 30/9/2005

quote:

ORIGINAL: great_badir

Hold up - I never said bad things about The Godfather. I LOVE The Godfather, even part 3!

Just cos it ain't in my top 150 doesn't mean I don't like it.

But you think it's inferior to Goodfellas... Which is as insulting as statements can possibly get.

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Post #: 114

RE: great badir's top 150 films - 17/2/2006 12:30:55 PM

great_badir

Posts: 4172
Joined: 6/10/2005
From: A breaking rope bridge in the middle of the jungle

80 South Park: Bigger, Longer, Uncut, Trey Parker (1999)
From teeny budget cartoon watched by about ten people, to a fully blown block-busting animated epic in the space of just two years proves how quickly the show found its feet and a loyal audience. The first hour or so (particularly the opening salvo, as the boys try to get in to see the latest Terrance & Phillip adventure) is as good as anything in the series thus far and Parker's musical interludes (all big, brash, complexly orchestrated sequences) are impressive even compared with the best studio musicals. If anyone told me after watching the pilot episode that it would wind up as a successful big screen oscar winner, i'd have bet big bucks that they were insane........just goes to show, huh!

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RE: great badir's top 150 films - 17/2/2006 12:31:55 PM

great_badir

Posts: 4172
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From: A breaking rope bridge in the middle of the jungle

quote:

ORIGINAL: The Don

But you think it's inferior to Goodfellas... Which is as insulting as statements can possibly get.

Well........yeah, okay.

Not a Goodfellas fan?

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RE: great badir's top 150 films - 17/2/2006 12:32:24 PM

great_badir

Posts: 4172
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From: A breaking rope bridge in the middle of the jungle

79 (The) Driver, Walter Hill (1978)
Also-ran car chase movie that's so spare, the characters don't even have names. Even though it was made way after Bullit and The French Connection (the two films that clearly had an influence on Hill), Driver is packed to the brim with some of the most realistic chases ever put on film. There are three major metal crunchers and numerous other fillers using up the majority of the lean sub-90 minute run time, leaving barely any room for plot, characterisation or exposition (not that Walter Hill was ever to bothered with all that anyway). All we ever know is that Driver (Ryan O'Neal, perfectly suited for this emotion-less role) is a master getaway, Detective (Bruce Dern) is trying to catch him in the act and Player (Isabelle Adjani) may or may not be stinging them both. And that's about it. Sounds rubbish, but the film's style (all classical, gritty 70s American police thriller, mixed with French new-wave stylings) and under-played performances turn it into a must see for any self respecting fan of the genre.

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RE: great badir's top 150 films - 17/2/2006 12:32:56 PM

great_badir

Posts: 4172
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From: A breaking rope bridge in the middle of the jungle

78 Cop Land, James Mangold (1997)
Anyone who thinks that Stallone can't act his way out of a damp cardboard box, really should be pointed in the direction of a small handful of films made up of Rocky, FIST, First Blood, Tango & Cash (for sheer comedy chops alone) and, chief amongst these in terms of stretching, James Mangold's Cop Land. More than holding his own with the big guns of De Niro and Keitel, and a top notch supporting cast, Stallone is mesmerising as the slow, deaf and overweight Freddy Heflin cos, despite criticism to the contrary, Stallone is really none of these things. It also stands as Mangold's best film - he's never really capitalised on the promise of Cop Land and we may never see Stallone (or De Niro, for that matter) this good again. And, oh, what an ending!!

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RE: great badir's top 150 films - 17/2/2006 12:33:20 PM

great_badir

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From: A breaking rope bridge in the middle of the jungle

77 Rocky, John G Avildsen (1976)
Whilst we're on the subject of Stallone's under-rated acting skills...

Before he pumped up to insane levels and seemed only to box (and KO!) WAY out of his weight-class (Sly vs. Dolph Lundgren......oooooo-kay), Stallone was stealing illegal shots and begging for food to make his long cherished boxing pic. This film is as much Stallone's as it is Avildsen's - it's a brilliant script by anyone's standards and, most of all, it's realistic. Rocky loses the match that he spent so much time training for, but that's not the point - Rocky (and, to a certain extent, Rocky 2 which, far from being a sequel, is rather more like the second part of Rocky as a much longer film) is about going the distance. If only Sly had stuck with these smaller independent features, then we may not have had kak like Stop, Or My Mom Will Shoot!

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RE: great badir's top 150 films - 17/2/2006 12:33:49 PM

great_badir

Posts: 4172
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From: A breaking rope bridge in the middle of the jungle

76 Monty Python & The Holy Grail, Terry Gilliam & Terry Jones (1975)
Despite what you're told, there's no such thing as the "perfect" Python movie - both Holy Grail and Life Of Brian run out of steam in the final reel, The Meaning Of Life is too outside the box and lofty for even the most avid Python fan and the others (Hollywood Bowl & And Now For Something Completely Different) are merely old sketches "done large". Ironically it's the non-Python Python films that are top of the pile - Jabberwocky, Time Bandits, Brazil etc - in terms of consistency. Despite all that, Holy Grail still leaves us with some huge belly laughs for just over an hour. Doubtless its quotability has slightly tarnished its credibility (like the Dead Parrot Sketch, The Knights Who Say Ni is probably nowhere near as funny now as it was in the 70s, thanks to just about everyone on the planet knowing it verbatim), but it's still full of comedy gold.

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