The Great 2020 All Time Movie Draft- The judging is heavily biased against me. It’s a hoax! Fake news. (2 Viewers)

[Andy Dufresne]

Yesterday was the 30th anniversary of the release of Miller's Crossing.

So, of course, I watched it. And surprisingly caught something I'd never considered before:


 
Throughout the whole movie, Tom bets on the even money with horses. After offing Bernie, he goes into his apartment to pay back his debt to Lazarre - and places a bet on a fixed fight. So Tom is both hero and anti-hero. I'd never paid any attention to what bet he was placing on the phone. This makes Tom an even deeper character.
End credits.  I almost selected the score here. Would have scored the same points as A13, so maybe I should have.

Verna: That's not why you came, either.

Tom Reagan: Tell me why I came.

Verna: [seductively] The oldest reason there is.

Tom Reagan: There are friendlier places to drink.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

Stupid quote function. 

Anyway, as I was saying... I think the MC score is sublime. 

Opening titles

End credits

Danny Boy

 

[Bracie Smathers]

Yesterday was the 30th anniversary of the release of Miller's Crossing.

So, of course, I watched it. And surprisingly caught something I'd never considered before:


  Reveal hidden contents
Throughout the whole movie, Tom bets on the even money with horses. After offing Bernie, he goes into his apartment to pay back his debt to Lazarre - and places a bet on a fixed fight. So Tom is both hero and anti-hero. I'd never paid any attention to what bet he was placing on the phone. This makes Tom an even deeper character.
End credits.  I almost selected the score here. Would have scored the same points as A13, so maybe I should have.

Verna: That's not why you came, either.

Tom Reagan: Tell me why I came.

Verna: [seductively] The oldest reason there is.

Tom Reagan: There are friendlier places to drink.

Years ago I started watching old black and white movies that people posted on YouTube and one of them suspiciously had the exact same plot of Miller's Crossing.  I can't remember what that movie was but I would imagine Eathon must have seen it and either consciously or sub consciously used that film as an outline.  

The dialogue in Miller's Crossing may be the best in any movie.  Its perfect.

Esquire sang the praises of this film yesterday.

It's Time to Acknowledge Miller's Crossing As the Best Coen Brothers Movie

 

[Bracie Smathers]

16.  Breathless - 1 pt

15.  The Jungle Book - 2 pts

14.  The Producers - 3 pts

13.  Goldfinger - 4 pts

12.  Funny Girl   5 pts

11. Persona  6 pts

10. Easy Rider 7 pts  

9. La Dolce Vita  8 pts

8.  In the Heat of the Night 9 pts

Multi Academy Award winner.  Directed by Norman Jewison who is one of the best directors of all-time.  In spite of his last name Jewison is a goya and their is a funny story while he was filming Fiddler on the Roof.  The star of that movie Topol was trying to convert him to Judaism and said.  'Maybe if we change his name to Christianson he would convert.'  Lol, kills me.  In this one he is flawless.  

Starring Sidney Poitier, Rod Steiger, Warren Oates, and Lee Grant.  Poitier had just won the first Academy Award to a black actor for Guess Whose Coming To Dinner and Steiger won his first for his performance in this one.  Warren Oates is one of the all-time great character actors and simply doesn't get enough credit, he's sensational in this one.  Poitier and Harry Belafonte were confronted by Klansmen before this film came out so he refused to shoot down South so the town of Sparta Illinois was changed to Sparta Mississippi.  One scene of workers picking cotton was shot in Tennessee and you can feel the tension.  This was one of the most turbulent times in American post WWII history, the Civil rights movement.  Doctor Martin Luther King would be assassinated the following year and the Academy would postpone for a mourning period.  For younguns who didn't live through that time and think what is happening now supersedes what took place then have NO CLUE and should ####.   Nothing can compare to what was happening over 4 decades ago and this film captures a lot of those times.  A landmark film that spawned two sequels and a long running TV show.  It was that important and still ranks highly.

7.  Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb 10 pts

Directed by Kubrick, this it is a transformative directing job.  He crossed the Rubicon with this one showcasing his brilliance.  It is perfectly crafted. 

Starring  Peter Sellers in three roles, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden as 'Jack D. Ripper', Keenan Wynn as 'Bat Guano', Slim Pickens, and a young James Earl Jones.  Sterling Hayden is another character actor who never seemed to get his due. 

George C. Scott was a well-known hot head and had a rep as being difficult so Kubrick used to challenge him to games of chess during filming to calm him down.  Kubrick was a chess champion and would consistently beat Scott who respected him largely based on their gaming duels.  Kubrick would have Scott do multiple takes.  Scott was furious when he saw the film because Stanley only used the broadest performances that George gave.  I think he made the right choice because Scott is hysterical IMHO.  

The air force refused to give Kubrick permission to film the inside of their bombers so Stanley meticulously built sets from various still photos.  The air force had him investigated by the FBI because they figured he had someone feeding him secret information as the sets were near identical carbon copies of the inside of our top bombers at the time.  Rumor has it that NASA contacted him to do the 'fake' moon landing after being blown away from his 2001 sets.

6.  The Graduate  11 pts

Directed by Mike Nichols (for the younguns he was part of THIS comedy team.  (Elaine May plays a bit part in the movie).  Buck Henry wrote it and played a funny bit part as a front desk clerk.  

Starring Dustin Hoffman, Anne Bancroft, and Katharine Ross.  Originally it was to star Candece Bergen and Robert Redford with, get this Doris Day in the role as Mrs. Robinson.  Bancroft would learn to hate how the rest of her career would be overshadowed by this role as she was one of the greatest stage stars of her time but her work in this film is some of the best ever caught.  The sad forlorn look as she cowers in the hallway after Benjamin confesses to Elaine that the woman he was having an affair with...  The silence where he never reveals but it seen in Anne Bancrot's pitifully melancholic entire body.  Its devastating.   

The editing is studied to this day.  The montage of Hoffman drifting from his stead home life to his encounters with Mrs.  Robinson are technical perfection, artistically satisfying, and fit the film/story/characters to a-T.  Watching him lift up from the pool onto a float mattress onto Mrs. Robinson at the hotel is one of the all-time best movie segway match-shots, it is a perfect match to the millimeter and in-motion and somehow the lighting seems to match as well.  It is brilliant.  

One of the funniest first halves of a movie ever as Hoffman's reactions are gut busting.  When Hoffman takes Katherine Ross back to the hotel where he has been carrying on the affair and everyone comes up to greet him and it is capped off by the high pitched 'little person' cheerfully greeting him is comedy gold Jerry.

Simon and Garfunkel produce a deep level of complexity as this was one of the first times pop music was used to score a movie.  You can't imagine this film without that score but it was added after just being a filler.  Nichols wanted to use Mrs. Robinson but after getting used to the filler he used it and history was made.  

--------------------------

To be continued....

 

[Mr. Mojo]

6.  The Graduate  11 pts

Directed by Mike Nichols (for the younguns he was part of THIS comedy team.  (Elaine May plays a bit part in the movie).  Buck Henry wrote it and played a funny bit part as a front desk clerk.  

Starring Dustin Hoffman, Anne Bancroft, and Katharine Ross.  Originally it was to star Candece Bergen and Robert Redford with, get this Doris Day in the role as Mrs. Robinson.  Bancroft would learn to hate how the rest of her career would be overshadowed by this role as she was one of the greatest stage stars of her time but her work in this film is some of the best ever caught.  The sad forlorn look as she cowers in the hallway after Benjamin confesses to Elaine that the woman he was having an affair with...  The silence where he never reveals but it seen in Anne Bancrot's pitifully melancholic entire body.  Its devastating.   

The editing is studied to this day.  The montage of Hoffman drifting from his stead home life to his encounters with Mrs.  Robinson are technical perfection, artistically satisfying, and fit the film/story/characters to a-T.  Watching him lift up from the pool onto a float mattress onto Mrs. Robinson at the hotel is one of the all-time best movie segway match-shots, it is a perfect match to the millimeter and in-motion and somehow the lighting seems to match as well.  It is brilliant.  

One of the funniest first halves of a movie ever as Hoffman's reactions are gut busting.  When Hoffman takes Katherine Ross back to the hotel where he has been carrying on the affair and everyone comes up to greet him and it is capped off by the high pitched 'little person' cheerfully greeting him is comedy gold Jerry.

Simon and Garfunkel produce a deep level of complexity as this was one of the first times pop music was used to score a movie.  You can't imagine this film without that score but it was added after just being a filler.  Nichols wanted to use Mrs. Robinson but after getting used to the filler he used it and history was made.  

I would add that it has one of the greatest film endings ever. Especially the closing bus scene.

 

[Bracie Smathers]

I would add that it has one of the greatest film endings ever. Especially the closing bus scene.

THAT SCENE was not what was supposed to be the ending.  

It was a second unit director who forgot to say CUT and both Ross and Hoffman were waiting, and waiting, and waiting for someone to yell CUT so their reactions are real.  When Nichols saw it he said, 'THAT'S IT!  THAT is our ending.'  He made the right choice.

Also forgot to mention bit parts by Richard Dryfuss ('Do you want me to call the cops?'), Mike Ferrell, Norman Fell, and Bob Eubanks can be heard as the Newlywed Game was being played in the background of one scene.  

 

[AAABatteries]

Stupid quote function. 

Anyway, as I was saying... I think the MC score is sublime. 

Opening titles

End credits

Danny Boy

Love it - would have been my backup to SW

 

[Chris B.]

I feel I should watch The Graduate today since work is slow this morning.

 

[Gally]

I feel I should watch The Graduate today since work is slow this morning.

Ok, that reminded me I wanted to give a final tally of seen vs not seen of the 576 movies selected in this draft.  I totaled it up and it comes to 184 movies seen vs 392 movies not seen.   I have seen a total of 31.9% of the selections.  Looks like i have a lot of movie watching to do in my spare time. 

 

[wikkidpissah]

97.7%

 

[Ilov80s]

97.7%

For real? I’m curious which are the few you haven’t seen

 

[wikkidpissah]

For real? I’m curious which are the few you haven’t seen

there were 9 - a couple recent (Joker, Parasite), a couple animated, a couple horror, a doc, a foreign & an action

 

[Chris B.]

6.  The Graduate  11 pts

Directed by Mike Nichols (for the younguns he was part of THIS comedy team.  (Elaine May plays a bit part in the movie).  Buck Henry wrote it and played a funny bit part as a front desk clerk.  

Starring Dustin Hoffman, Anne Bancroft, and Katharine Ross.  Originally it was to star Candece Bergen and Robert Redford with, get this Doris Day in the role as Mrs. Robinson.  Bancroft would learn to hate how the rest of her career would be overshadowed by this role as she was one of the greatest stage stars of her time but her work in this film is some of the best ever caught.  The sad forlorn look as she cowers in the hallway after Benjamin confesses to Elaine that the woman he was having an affair with...  The silence where he never reveals but it seen in Anne Bancrot's pitifully melancholic entire body.  Its devastating.   

The editing is studied to this day.  The montage of Hoffman drifting from his stead home life to his encounters with Mrs.  Robinson are technical perfection, artistically satisfying, and fit the film/story/characters to a-T.  Watching him lift up from the pool onto a float mattress onto Mrs. Robinson at the hotel is one of the all-time best movie segway match-shots, it is a perfect match to the millimeter and in-motion and somehow the lighting seems to match as well.  It is brilliant.  

One of the funniest first halves of a movie ever as Hoffman's reactions are gut busting.  When Hoffman takes Katherine Ross back to the hotel where he has been carrying on the affair and everyone comes up to greet him and it is capped off by the high pitched 'little person' cheerfully greeting him is comedy gold Jerry.

Simon and Garfunkel produce a deep level of complexity as this was one of the first times pop music was used to score a movie.  You can't imagine this film without that score but it was added after just being a filler.  Nichols wanted to use Mrs. Robinson but after getting used to the filler he used it and history was made.  

I feel I should watch The Graduate today since work is slow this morning.

Well now that's it's checked off the list, I can put it behind me.
Verdict: Not very good.

Here's why. Ben's actions were completely inconsistent with who he was as a person. Sure, people can change but it was so sudden and all of his subsequent actions were irrational. Ben, Mrs. Robinson and Elain all displayed dramatic behavioral and mood swings. This might be understandable if this was a full-on comedy and wild mood swings was meant to be funny, but this wasn't it. None of the major characters were likeable and couldn't root for any of them. The Simon & Garfunkle songs are repetitive and they beat you over the head with The Sound of Silence, Scarborough Fair, and Mrs. Robinson over and over again. It's been said before, but Hoffman was 30, looked 40, playing a 21year old. But hey, it's acting and I can overlook it. It probably would have worked better with a male lead that actually looked the part. I did like the camerawork though, It was slick and the cuts between scenes was very clever. I also liked the ending, although the fight scene at the church was silly and not believable. 

 

[Ilov80s]

Tough crowd out here 

 

[wikkidpissah]

The Graduate is the definitive 60s movie, but i appreciated more than enjoyed it.

 

[Doug B]

The Graduate is the definitive 60s movie ...

Chalk, meet eraser  

 

[Bracie Smathers]

Well now that's it's checked off the list, I can put it behind me.
Verdict: Not very good.

Here's why. Ben's actions were completely inconsistent with who he was as a person. Sure, people can change but it was so sudden and all of his subsequent actions were irrational. Ben, Mrs. Robinson and Elain all displayed dramatic behavioral and mood swings. This might be understandable if this was a full-on comedy and wild mood swings was meant to be funny, but this wasn't it. None of the major characters were likeable and couldn't root for any of them. The Simon & Garfunkle songs are repetitive and they beat you over the head with The Sound of Silence, Scarborough Fair, and Mrs. Robinson over and over again. It's been said before, but Hoffman was 30, looked 40, playing a 21year old. But hey, it's acting and I can overlook it. It probably would have worked better with a male lead that actually looked the part. I did like the camerawork though, It was slick and the cuts between scenes was very clever. I also liked the ending, although the fight scene at the church was silly and not believable. 

Lol, actually YOU should do standup.  Ripping the Graduate for mood swings?  Lol, that's top shelf schtick.  

 

[Chris B.]

Lol, actually YOU should do standup.  Ripping the Graduate for mood swings?  Lol, that's top shelf schtick.  

Not liking overrated movies is shtick? Then what do you call liking overrated movies?

 

[Bracie Smathers]

Not liking overrated movies is shtick? Then what do you call liking overrated movies?

You completely missed the mark with your criticism of the movie.  You have no idea what the mental state was of the characters before the story began.  We only know his parents are overbearing and 'think' their son is happy when he clearly is not.  They use Ben and he is rebelling from a situation where his life was based on pleasing his parents.  You don't have to like Ben since he is being used and uses Mrs. Robinson.

The alcoholic Mrs. Robinson is clearly not happy in her loveless/sexless marriage.  She uses Ben and is both jealous of and hopeful of her daughter who isn't aware of how she goes about coping with her situation.  She lies and manipulates Elain.

Elain is the victim of her parents, how they manipulated her to and then away from Ben and then forced her into a marriage to keep her away from Ben.  She is a sympathetic character.

I could address every criticism but it seems you were looking for excuses because you don't like the movie which is fine.  I actually didn't care for it for a number of years.  I am not saying you will eventually appreciate the film but I did and I'm not exactly sure why it clicked with me but I would say at some later date in your life give it another chance.

 

[Tolstoy]

top 5 BS?

 

[Chris B.]

You completely missed the mark with your criticism of the movie.  You have no idea what the mental state was of the characters before the story began.  We only know his parents are overbearing and 'think' their son is happy when he clearly is not.  They use Ben and he is rebelling from a situation where his life was based on pleasing his parents.  You don't have to like Ben since he is being used and uses Mrs. Robinson.

The alcoholic Mrs. Robinson is clearly not happy in her loveless/sexless marriage.  She uses Ben and is both jealous of and hopeful of her daughter who isn't aware of how she goes about coping with her situation.  She lies and manipulates Elain.

Elain is the victim of her parents, how they manipulated her to and then away from Ben and then forced her into a marriage to keep her away from Ben.  She is a sympathetic character.

I could address every criticism but it seems you were looking for excuses because you don't like the movie which is fine.  I actually didn't care for it for a number of years.  I am not saying you will eventually appreciate the film but I did and I'm not exactly sure why it clicked with me but I would say at some later date in your life give it another chance.

There's no need summarize the movie, there is nothing unclear about it. If you think I aimed to spend 1 hour 45 minutes of my day watching a movie I intended to dislike, then again, you are wrong. I've said this before, but I hope to love every movie I watch, especially the so-called "classics". So, if anything, I go in with a favorable bias. There's no need to take it personally when someone finds a lot of faults with a movie you like. I'm not the only one that didn't think The Graduate was good. We're in the minority and have no problem with that.

 

[Bracie Smathers]

16.  Breathless - 1 pt

15.  The Jungle Book - 2 pts

14.  The Producers - 3 pts

13.  Goldfinger - 4 pts

12.  Funny Girl   5 pts

11. Persona  6 pts

10. Easy Rider 7 pts  

9. La Dolce Vita  8 pts

8.  In the Heat of the Night 9 pts

7.  Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb 10 pts

6.  The Graduate  11 pts

5.  Midnight Cowboy 12 pts

• Joe Buck: I'm Joe Buck from Texas.
• Ratso Rizzo: Enrico Rizzo, from the Bronx.
• Joe Buck: And I'm gonna buy you a drink. What the hell you think of that?
• Ratso Rizzo: Well, I don't mind if I do.

Directed by John Schlesinger would later work with Hoffman again on Marathon Man does a great job in this one.  Widely known that this is the only X Rated movie to win an Academy Award.  Starring Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight, both are exceptional.  Hoffman 'appears' to physically deteriorate before our eyes as the movie goes along.  Hoffman put pebbles in the shoe to insure he would limp each time.  

Harry Nilsson's score of Everybody's Talk'n is used throughout the movie and it can't be heard without thinking about this movie.  Its a haunting tune and it gets me.  

Worlds collide as Joe Buck meets Ratzo Rizzo.  After a rocky start they create a bond of survival that develops into deep caring.  Most movies have one character develop and learn something but few have this sort of combustive start and throw the audience into stark reality like Midnight Cowboy only to see the relationship as the focus of the movie where it develops as beautifully as this one.

4.  A Man For All Seasons 13 pts

• Sir Thomas More: You threaten like a dockside bully.
• Cromwell: How should I threaten?
• Thomas More: Like a minister of state. With justice.
• Cromwell: Oh, justice is what you're threatened with.
• Sir Thomas More: Then I am not threatened.

Somebody missed the boat as this could have easily won the courtroom genre category.  This movie gets overlooked and seems lost in time but it is timeless as a story of a man upholding his principles in the face of political and social pressure as Thomas Moore was the only noble to stand up against Henry the VIII's divorce and break with the Roman church.  Everything works in this one, the screenplay, the acting, the film work/directing/production.  

Directed by Fred Zinnemann with a fantastic screenplay by Robert Bolt (Dr. Zhivago, Laurence of Arabia, The Mission) and utterly brilliant lead by Paul Scofield with fine performances by Wendy Hiller and Robert Shaw as King Henry.  Nice work by a very rotund Orson Welles and even a young John Hurt does great work as well.  Really good cast and Scofield won best actor, well deserved.  Leo McKern is sinister as Oliver Thomas Cromwell.  

Whereas Midnight Cowboy shows unique character development in a relationship this film lacks that critical feature but it is fascinating as Moore uses his wits to fight and attempt to stave off the inevitable.  

-------------------------

Top three tomorrow...

 

[KarmaPolice]

There's no need summarize the movie, there is nothing unclear about it. If you think I aimed to spend 1 hour 45 minutes of my day watching a movie I intended to dislike, then again, you are wrong. I've said this before, but I hope to love every movie I watch, especially the so-called "classics". So, if anything, I go in with a favorable bias. There's no need to take it personally when someone finds a lot of faults with a movie you like. I'm not the only one that didn't think The Graduate was good. We're in the minority and have no problem with that.

What you you say the hit rate of classic or critically acclaimed movies are for you? 

 

[Chris B.]

What you you say the hit rate of classic or critically acclaimed movies are for you? 

I went back to the draft spreadsheet to check what I watched since we started.
I watch 19 picked movies for the first time (all of which would be considered critically acclaimed/classics), and disliked 5.
More will be viewed before this (at this rate) is all over, and I'll be sure to point out those that are sorely overrated.

 

[timschochet]

I hated Midnight Cowboy. I wanted that car to run Dustin Hoffman over. 

 

[Don Quixote]

 Leo McKern is sinister as Oliver Cromwell.  

Wrong Cromwell.

 

[Mrs. Rannous]

altho my wikkidlist of leftovers had Adaptation as my "based on book" choice, i probably would have drafted Lost Horizon, if only to highlight Frank Capra's greatest labor of love (even tho there is significant lost footage) and what a delightful little book it is. No ponderous tome, a Gatsby-length slip of a thing - a perfect treat to slip into one's travel bag - and not only high-concept but crisply & deliciously worded. Hilton's mellifluous, telling phrases mind the first & last words of the story. wikkid say check it -

As long as it isn't the musical version.  Good god, that is terrible.

Alas, O Henry didn't really write books so I couldn't pick one.  And the Hornblower movie isn't exactly Shakespeare.

 

[Mrs. Rannous]

there were 9 - a couple recent (Joker, Parasite), a couple animated, a couple horror, a doc, a foreign & an action

Which doc?

 

[Mrs. Rannous]

There's no need summarize the movie, there is nothing unclear about it. If you think I aimed to spend 1 hour 45 minutes of my day watching a movie I intended to dislike, then again, you are wrong. I've said this before, but I hope to love every movie I watch, especially the so-called "classics". So, if anything, I go in with a favorable bias. There's no need to take it personally when someone finds a lot of faults with a movie you like. I'm not the only one that didn't think The Graduate was good. We're in the minority and have no problem with that.

I feel the same way you do.  It's just boring.  And I really like Ann Bancroft.

 

[Mrs. Rannous]

Somebody missed the boat as this could have easily won the courtroom genre category. 

Thanks, but I picked Judgment at Nuremberg there.  We did consider putting this in the courtroom category, but I love both movies.  Sometimes, you have to make a choice.

 

[KarmaPolice]

What you you say the hit rate of classic or critically acclaimed movies are for you? 

I feel the same way you do.  It's just boring.  And I really like Ann Bancroft.

I am curious about your answer too. 

 

[Mrs. Rannous]

I am curious about your answer too. 

I've never analysed the percentage.  If you could ask more specific questions, I might be able to answer.

 

[Bracie Smathers]

I hated Midnight Cowboy. I wanted that car to run Dustin Hoffman over. 

Too many wood swings?

 

[KarmaPolice]

I've never analysed the percentage.  If you could ask more specific questions, I might be able to answer.

I thought it was specific, and I assumed you didn't have a spreadsheet or anything.   

Like Mr. B, you seem to not like too many of what I would guess I would be critical darlings from our lists.  Maybe it's just like him (Ok, all of us), when you don't like something you really don't like it and are pretty vocal about it, and the % of dislike isn't as high as my perception is.   So I guess I don't know how to ask more specifically - odds that you think you will like it, % of ones you do, etc..  -  if you had a list of AFI's best movies, or best scores from Metacritic for a year or all time, how much would you agree with and like that list and the movies on it?

AFI top 10:  Citizen Kane, The Godfather, Casablanca, Singing in the Rain, Raging Bull, Gone with the Wind, Lawrence of Arabia, Schindler's List, Vertigo, Wizard of Oz

Example of Metacric top movies of 2019:  Parasite, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, The Irishman, Marriage Story, The Souvenir, Little Women, Uncut Gems, The Farewell

 

[Bracie Smathers]

Wrong Cromwell.

Thomas Cromwell.

Oliver was a descendent and they both were beheaded and had their heads displayed on pikes but Oliver was already dead when they dug him up and beheaded him.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

AFI top 10:  Citizen Kane, The Godfather, Casablanca, Singing in the Rain, Raging Bull, Gone with the Wind, Lawrence of Arabia, Schindler's List, Vertigo, Wizard of Oz

Example of Metacric top movies of 2019:  Parasite, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, The Irishman, Marriage Story, The Souvenir, Little Women, Uncut Gems, The Farewell

I know I wasn't asked but i guess I'm chiming in with support for Mrs. B here...

Of that list, I can say that I only really like one of those movies, generally like a couple, and am either really meh about the rest or have little interest in seeing them. 

 

[wikkidpissah]

Which doc?

the new WW1 thing

As long as it isn't the musical version.  Good god, that is terrible.

Alas, O Henry didn't really write books so I couldn't pick one.  And the Hornblower movie isn't exactly Shakespeare.

no, it's wonderful - best film of the '30s. you can tell it was a passion project for the great Capra cuz, as soon It Happened One Night & Mr Deeds made him a big shot he used his studio capital to get it done, then when right back to the Capraesque classics Mr Smith Goes to Washington and Meet John Doe in his incredible pre-war run. unfortunately, they've lost some footage from the original so, when TCM shows it, there are 3 or 4 spots where you hear the sound of missing scenes over studio stills from the film in the restoration

 

[Andy Dufresne]

Watched a couple of my favorites the last couple nights that I wish I'd have found room for in this ting - Christine and Vanilla Sky. 

Admittedly, the third act of VS is overlong, the song choices poor, and the mood is just a bit off, but it finishes note perfect with the Sigur Ros song in the background. 

 

[Andy Dufresne]

Rear Window in 4k for $5 on iTunes.

 

[Gally]

AFI top 10:  Citizen Kane, The Godfather, Casablanca, Singing in the Rain, Raging Bull, Gone with the Wind, Lawrence of Arabia, Schindler's List, Vertigo, Wizard of Oz

Example of Metacric top movies of 2019:  Parasite, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, The Irishman, Marriage Story, The Souvenir, Little Women, Uncut Gems, The Farewell

I have only seen two of the AFI top 10 (Casablanca & Wizard of Oz - and Casablanca was just a couple weeks ago) and I haven't seen any of the 2019 movies......

 

[Dr. Octopus]

I thought it was specific, and I assumed you didn't have a spreadsheet or anything.   

Like Mr. B, you seem to not like too many of what I would guess I would be critical darlings from our lists.  Maybe it's just like him (Ok, all of us), when you don't like something you really don't like it and are pretty vocal about it, and the % of dislike isn't as high as my perception is.   So I guess I don't know how to ask more specifically - odds that you think you will like it, % of ones you do, etc..  -  if you had a list of AFI's best movies, or best scores from Metacritic for a year or all time, how much would you agree with and like that list and the movies on it?

AFI top 10:  Citizen Kane, The Godfather, Casablanca, Singing in the Rain, Raging Bull, Gone with the Wind, Lawrence of Arabia, Schindler's List, Vertigo, Wizard of Oz

Example of Metacric top movies of 2019:  Parasite, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, The Irishman, Marriage Story, The Souvenir, Little Women, Uncut Gems, The Farewell

I don’t get the love for Uncut Gems. Not that it was bad but it just seemed so meaningless- nothing really happened and the whole gambling aspect was just unrealistic.
 

The Irishman is the only other movie I saw from the 2019 list. I liked it but not a movie I’d sit down to watch again.

Love Godfather, Casablanca, and Wizard of Oz. Schindler’s List and Raging Bull were great but a difficult watches. 

 

[Zow]

Sorry guys. Work has been insane the last couple of weeks. I still intend on judging the 2000s category. However, I regret that I may not be able to watch the movies I haven't seen in the courtroom drama category and do service to judging it. Does somebody else want to do courtroom dramas?

 

[Mrs. Rannous]

the new WW1 thing

They Shall Not Grow Old

Definitely worth a go.  The conserved period footage is evocative, and the period narration well-chosen.

 

[Mrs. Rannous]

no, it's wonderful - best film of the '30s. you can tell it was a passion project for the great Capra cuz, as soon It Happened One Night & Mr Deeds made him a big shot he used his studio capital to get it done, then when right back to the Capraesque classics Mr Smith Goes to Washington and Meet John Doe in his incredible pre-war run. unfortunately, they've lost some footage from the original so, when TCM shows it, there are 3 or 4 spots where you hear the sound of missing scenes over studio stills from the film in the restoration

The 1973 musical version is MST3K worthy.  It's just awful.  How anyone could read the book and get to that is a mystery.  The Capra film really gets the atmosphere of the book.

This Musical Hell review pretty much covers it all.

 

[Mrs. Rannous]

AFI top 10:  Citizen Kane, The Godfather, Casablanca, Singing in the Rain, Raging Bull, Gone with the Wind, Lawrence of Arabia, Schindler's List, Vertigo, Wizard of Oz

I've seen all of these.  I like six of them:  Casablanca, Singin' In The Rain, GWTW, Lawrence, Schindler's List, and The Wizard of Oz.  The others just didn't work for me for various reasons.  I'm guessing the percentages work out across the board.

As for the other critical darlings, I don't care for movies that are deeply meaningful and pretty much pretentious.  2001 fills this space for me.  (Not related to the movies in the quote.)  If we are singing about our cafe au lait, I don't want to know.

I just went through the AFI top 100 list.  I've seen 80 of them.  A few I just couldn't get through.  (Hello, Forrest Gump.)  Of those, about 28 didn't work for me at all.  (I just love watching Butch and Sundance ride their bikes to wildly unperiod and bad 60's music.  Yummy!  Or Wuthering Heights.  Bad source material = bad movie.  Pot boilers are just ridiculous to me.  See Dark Victory.)

I have no idea if there's a pattern here or not.

 

[wikkidpissah]

The 1973 musical version is MST3K worthy.  It's just awful.  How anyone could read the book and get to that is a mystery.  The Capra film really gets the atmosphere of the book.

This Musical Hell review pretty much covers it all.

Even breaking the Cardinal Rule of Critical Ridicule - be at least as well-written as one's object - that's a panic.

 

[AAABatteries]

AFI top 10:  Citizen Kane, The Godfather, Casablanca, Singing in the Rain, Raging Bull, Gone with the Wind, Lawrence of Arabia, Schindler's List, Vertigo, Wizard of Oz

I need to rewatch 3 of these - CK, Arabia and Raging Bull - the other 7 I would put near the top of their respective genre lists.  It wouldn’t be my top-10 but I could rewatch GF, Casablanca, Vertigo and Wizard of Oz once a year for the rest of my life. 

 

[Ilov80s]

Rear Window in 4k for $5 on iTunes.

I was looking at the new Hitchcock 4 pack they released 

 

[Andy Dufresne]

Rear Window in 4k for $5 on iTunes.

I was looking at the new Hitchcock 4 pack they released 

Well this is something I didn't know. On iTunes there's a disclaimer that says that "You can watch content in 4k only on Apple TV 4k."



Still, I'll say again, streaming quality on iTunes/AppleTV - even if it's through the app on a Roku - is still superior to others like Vudu. Even if it's just HD and not 4k. 

 

[Ilov80s]

Titanic and Sophie’s Choice are the only AFI 100 I haven’t seen. The ones I didn’t care for were Easy Rider, Gump, African Queen, MASH and Intolerance. There are certainly some I consider highly overrated and belonging on the list like High Noon, Midnight Cowboy, Tootsie and The French Connection. Also Swing Time is flat out the wrong Fred-Ginger movie. It should be Top Hat clearly. The fact Swing Time has a black face scene is the icing on the bad  decision by AFI cake.