Ignore This Thread! A Craptastic Top 10

[MadMan]

Bump for any final thoughts/guesses before I post #1. Which I'm still writing commentary for-this entry is a bitch to cover, really.

[Adam]

Is it Monkeybone?

It's Monkeybone, right?

[The Mike]

Is it Monkeybone?

It's Monkeybone, right?

Nah, my money's on Corky Romano.

[MadMan]

Is it Monkeybone?

It's Monkeybone, right?

Nah, my money's on Corky Romano.

You are both wrong. My #1 movie of all time is....

[MadMan]

Seriously though, I finished writing commentary for my actual #1, and have just been putting it off for weeks now. Hey you all know I procrastinate :P



1. Apocalypse Now (1979, Coppola)

Fine, so I am double dipping with directors on this list, but anyone who would have had a chance to see my previous Top 20 would note I have done it before, only in that case with Sergio Leone. Such qualms aside, I'm also amazed that even after seeing more films after making that last Top 20 that this has remained perched at the top. I have seen some of the others on this list and the other list many more times, but I could not say that they were almost akin to an entirely different, almost spiritual, experience.

Calling the best of the Coppola 70s masterpieces a "War movie," would not only be utterly wrong, but also a generic generalization of a film that goes above the usual gene standards, while also managing to one up its overrated source material, the Joseph Conrad novel Heart of Darkness (Herzog also managed to do this with his great journey into madness, Aguirre: The Wraith of God, filmed seven years before )-its not really too often you can make such a bold statement.

Say what the critics will about this movie's perceived large amount of flaws (they do exist, yes), but I do not feel that they hinder the movie itself from being truly spectacular in every single way. This is one instance where messy film making resulted in greatness, and while its happened before I'm not so sure it will ever happen again, although I suppose "Gangs of New York" could qualify even though it is not worthy of a perfect score.

Even more astounding is that I favor the movie's famous voice over, not actually done by Martin Sheen but his own brother, as I have often found the device to be rather annoying and often unnecessary. For a movie that is one large and strange trip down the rabbit hole, having the main character of Lt. Willard speak his thoughts onscreen (with them mostly substituting soundtrack music and scores), having narration is a high necessity. His brooding, damningly cynical dialogue appears to be crude poetry in motion almost, and Sheen has many of the movie's best lines.

Even though the juiciest monologue belongs to Robert Duvell's surf crazed helicopter traveling gung-ho captain, a character that best embodies the true insanity and futility of war. "Some day this war's gonna end" can be further interrupted as being a statement on all wars, a reminder of the famous quote "Only the dead know the end of war." With such musings being stated after a harrowing, disturbing and brutally effective helicopter bombing of an entire village set to Wager (a touch I find a tad ironic), the senseless and barbaric cruelty of war is laid bare. But beyond that, the viewer gets a sense that the US was crazy to think it could win the hearts and minds of the Vietnamese people when it was constantly napalming their own homes.

Only in the second half does the movie's sizable ties to Conrad's novel even come into play, especially since Marlon Brando, Coppola's own version of Kurtz remains hidden and obscured from view for most of the movie, a move that actually works quite well. The build up and tension that emerges from Willard's journey into an unspeakable hell hole is an example of how to properly sustain interest, and this groundwork lays the foundation for one of the most memorable, creepy scenes to emerge from a non-horror movie. Which leads to the other point that even though the movie ends on a seemingly optimistic note, the final scene is rather cautious in that it serves as a warning of how easily man's bleakest, most violent impulses can be so easily switched on.

As I stated, this is not just a war movie, but something truly more-beyond Vietnam, breaking the barrier of standard war movie cliches and morphing into something entirely new and original. Coppola to my knowledge has never topped this, and I doubt he ever will.

[Adam]

Good stuff, even if Apocalypse Now is blah

[B-side]

Good stuff, even if Apocalypse Now is blah

That's a remark worthy of neg-rep if I ever saw one.

[MadMan]

Good stuff, even if Apocalypse Now is blah

Thank you for the "Good stuff," comment. I know that many on this site don't particularly care for AN, and actually a good friend of mine who's a film fanatic thinks I'm crazy for finding it better than say, Citzen Kane or The Godfather.

That's a remark worthy of neg-rep if I ever saw one.

Whoa there pilgrim. No need to threats of neg-rep, even if we don't have that feature anymore :P

Now that I've actually finished another list, on to my planned Top 20 of the Decade, and of course my Top 20 Westerns of All Time. Yes I'm absolutely serious.

[Ivan Drago]

10. Goodfellas 9
9. The Gold Rush 7.5
8. The Seventh Seal 5
7. Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Bomb 6
6. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly 8
5. The Third Man 8
4. Lawrence of Arabia 9.5
3. Citizen Kane 8
2. The Godfather 9.5

I've seen everything except Apocalypse Now. Awesome list, man!

[MadMan]

10. Goodfellas 9
9. The Gold Rush 7.5
8. The Seventh Seal 5
7. Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Bomb 6
6. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly 8
5. The Third Man 8
4. Lawrence of Arabia 9.5
3. Citizen Kane 8
2. The Godfather 9.5

I've seen everything except Apocalypse Now. Awesome list, man!

Some of your ratings are, um, alarming to me :lol:
But thanks anyways-and I hope you enjoy Apocalypse Now as much as I did. Everything on the list receives a 100/100 btw folks-but I think that was generally assumed already.

PS: A late shoutout to Father Barry, aka Padre, who famously gave my #1 movie of all time a 1/10. God bless yah man, where ever yah are.

[B-side]

10. Goodfellas 8
9. The Gold Rush 7.5
8. The Seventh Seal 8
7. Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Bomb 8
6. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly 9
5. The Third Man 8
4. Lawrence of Arabia 9.5
3. Citizen Kane 9
2. The Godfather 9
1. Apocalypse Now 9

Damn fine list, sir.