The Race to Finish Someone Else's Arbitrary Best of List

[Raiders]

I have never seen an actual film from Kuchar, but the short I, an Actress which depicts the furious and campy screen test of one of his students is simply among the most entertaining things I have ever watched (I actually included it in my top 100). It's also a pretty fascinating document of the mindset of no-budget filmmaking.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOXpDCkOiCo

[soitgoes...]

I have never seen an actual film from Kuchar, but the short I, an Actress which depicts the furious and campy screen test of one of his students is simply among the most entertaining things I have ever watched (I actually included it in my top 100). It's also a pretty fascinating document of the mindset of no-budget filmmaking.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOXpDCkOiCo

I've heard you talk about this, but haven't gotten around to watching it (8 minutes in length! Egad!). I'll check it out now that I have a link provided for me.

[soitgoes...]

#908 The Red and the White (Miklós Jancsó 1967)

Commissioned by the Soviet government to celebrate the 50 year anniversary of the October Revolution, The Red and the White must have been like a slap in the face to those in charge. The film ended up being re-edited and then just outright banned because Jancsó gave the Soviets a film based 2 years after the Revolution, and one that is wholly apathetic to the Communist cause. In fact the film takes no stance except against war.

The film deals with the aftermath of the Revolution, where the Reds (Bolsheviks) are still battling the Whites (Tsarists) in rural Russia. Hungarians play an important role in the film as apparently many came to Russia to help fight on the side of the Communists. There is so much going on, one side killing the other, and everything shot at a distance that most of the time it is unclear who is killing who and even what is happening. Indeed through half of the film I wasn't even sure which side was which. This is unimportant to Jancsó, but obviously it was the main reason of concern to the Soviet officials. Soldiers are executed, women are humiliated and then probably raped off-screen, battles are waged and hardly anyone offers any objection, any emotion. There are no heroic deaths in Jancsó's war. A death is a death. A man is a man. Hungarian, Bolshevik or Tsarist, it doesn't matter.

Jancsó's films are at their heart films about power and control. Who has the power, and how quickly that power can shift. Those in charge one minute can be subjugated by someone else or even those who were being subjugated previously. This is most evident in The Red and the White. Power shifts from scene to scene. No one is ever in control. The more I think about this film the more I think I should bump it up that last half star. I haven't even gotten to the famous Jancsó long takes.

[Melville]

I've decided to make my way through this list, or at least the English-language-and-easily-obtainable portion of it. I'm currently at 721 out of the 1001. The ones I've watched since starting the attempt, from most recent to least:

The Life of Emile Zola - Didactic. Enjoyably hammy performance by Paul Muni as Zola. The best bit is the beginning, with the Zola and Cezanne as the starving artists with high ideals. I like the grand ambitions of those old-timey artists. 6/10

The Defiant Ones - Rough-and-tumble story of escaped convicts and overcoming race barriers. It's much better than that sounds, carried by excellent performances and a rugged, natural aesthetic. I love the sympathetic attitude these old movies have for imprisoned criminals: shit happens, people do bad things, people are people. But they don't feel mawkish; they're not selling that point as a moral lesson. Anyway, great characterizations in this movie, muscular and emotional. Curtis telling a woman his dream of what life should be is powerful stuff. Poitier's line "Come on, man, you draggin' the chain" is even more so—a terrific, simple image of the bond formed between the two convicts, it doesn't make a big point of itself but lets its weight be felt in an upfront way. 8.5/10

Secret Beyond the Door - The plot takes a lot from various Hitchcock films, particularly the far superior Rebecca. The psychologizing is stupefying. 5.5/10

The Man With the Golden Arm - I love the seamy jazz playing over the grungy B&W city. Raw performances and compelling desperation—the wife's especially. 8/10

Things to Come - So hammy. No real characters, just bland, often silly prophesying, flat aesthetic, and that hammy acting. 2.5/10

Bad Day at Black Rock - Pretty dull "social issue" movie, with some hokey action scenes and improbable characters. The first Spencer Tracy performance I've seen, and he didn't do much for me. 5/10

Swing Time - The movie doesn't have quite the lightness and exuberance of Top Hat, but Astaire is magic. 7.5/10

The Man in Grey - Quality melodrama, full of proud and sadistic lords, romantic highwaymen, duels and beatings, tragedies and high passions. James Mason owns it as the aforementioned proud and sadistic lord. 7/10

Ordinary People - So dull. Both stolid and sappy in its portrayal of misery. The big emotional climax feels fake. 4/10

A Nightmare on Elm Street - Enjoyable enough. Given the premise, it could have had a lot more interesting, terrifying, haunting, or in any way striking imagery. 5.5/10

The Wolf Man - Hokier than I was expecting, and short on atmosphere, but reasonably entertaining. 5.5/10

Jezebel - Excellent antebellum melodrama. Looks great, creates a distinct feeling of the time and culture. Perfect use of music. Worthwhile story of pride, clashing personalities, and love. Bette Davis is terrific as the haughty Southern Belle who ends in self-sacrifice and devotion. The internet tells me she was given this role as a consolation for not getting Gone With the Wind. She got the much better movie. 8/10

Clerks - Terrible. Phony characters, obnoxious dialogue, lame-life-lesson teaching. 2/10

Slacker - Surprisingly good, considering my dislike of Linklater's other people-walk-around-talking movies Before Sunrise and Waking Life. A great cross-section of a certain time and place, with a lot of infectious energy and character. 8/10

The Big Chill - So bad. So phony in its middlebrow character development. 3/10

Kramer vs. Kramer - Surprisingly good. I bought all the schmaltz. The bond between the father and son is developed well, and the performances are great all around. The sudden turnaround at the end felt very undeserved, though. From this and Ordinary People, I learned that the mothers and wives of the era were always the cause of everybody's problems. 7/10

The Bigamist - Interesting to see a man cheating on his wife not due to uncontrollable lusts, but due to feeling unappreciated. Statistics tell me that's the more typical cause in reality. The movie could have done a lot more with its moral quandaries, though. 6/10

Serpico - That Pacino sure could act. He completely dissapears under that beard and creates a living character like few other actors could. The gritty aesthetic is great, and the moral indignation rousing without ever feeling didactic. 8/10

When Harry Met Sally - Surprisingly not annoying for a modern romantic comedy. 7/10

Salt of the Earth - Unremarkable except for the thematic parallels between its creation and its narrative. 5/10

The Masque of the Red Death - Too much silliness and hammy acting put into what should be a tight narrative built on atmosphere. Some nice images. 5/10

Bridesmaids - Where was the funny? I never did more than chuckle a few times. These Apatow stories of too-close friendships and screwups are not good. 3/10

The Evil Dead - Cheesy. 4/10

The Cabin in the Woods - Grating in its glibness, not scary when actually going for scares. 3.5/10

An American Werewolf in London - Fun. The abrupt ending and its jump to rocking music sells the whole thing. 7/10

The King's Speech - Pretty much what you'd expect Oscar bait to be. 5/10

The Artist - Why did this garner so much praise and awards? A pretty weak imitation of much better movies. 5/10

Life of Pi - I expected to dislike it, but I was quickly won over. A dude's stuck on a lifeboat with a tiger. You can't argue with that. 7/10

Zabriskie Point - Yeesh. Everything annoying about the culture it depicts, crammed into a dense package of annoyingness. L'Eclisse continues to be the only Antonioni I appreciate (besides the ending of La Notte). 3/10

The Adventures of Robin Hood - So much fake laughing. 3/10

[Skitch]

Clerks - Terrible. Phony characters, obnoxious dialogue, lame-life-lesson teaching. 2/10

Slacker - Surprisingly good, considering my dislike of Linklater's other people-walk-around-talking movies Before Sunrise and Waking Life. A great cross-section of a certain time and place, with a lot of infectious energy and character. 8/10

These reviews seemed to have been switched accidentally. Just a heads up.

[Sven]

Wow. It's almost uncanny how much we agree here. Masque of the Red Death is pretty cool with Hendrix and Abba as the soundtrack. Hopefully you know not to write off Tracy.

[Watashi]

The Adventures of Robin Hood - So much fake laughing. 3/10

You have no soul.

[Melville]

What I have left to see is shown here.

These reviews seemed to have been switched accidentally. Just a heads up.

Ha. Kevin Smith is about as far from my own sensibility as an artist can get. The atrociously amateur performances didn't help. On the other hand, the surreal touches in Slacker, the broader, less traditional structure offered by the short sketches, and the less pat view of people and life worked well for me.

Wow. It's almost uncanny how much we agree here. Masque of the Red Death is pretty cool with Hendrix and Abba as the soundtrack.

That does sound better.

Hopefully you know not to write off Tracy.

After looking at his list of performances, I remember I've also seen him in Man's Castle and Fury. I thought he was good in both of those, or at least created a more pronounced character.

You have no soul.

I have a perfectly cromulent soul.

[Qrazy]

Glad you liked The Defiant Ones and disliked Zabriskie Point. Very much agreed with your reviews there, and most of your other blurbs as well. I suppose I should get back on this list at some point. I have 130 left to see given the new additions.

[Skitch]

Ha. Kevin Smith is about as far from my own sensibility as an artist can get. The atrociously amateur performances didn't help.

Completely understandable.

On the other hand, the surreal touches in Slacker, the broader, less traditional structure offered by the short sketches, and the less pat view of people and life worked well for me.

Ugh, I didn't see surreal, I saw an unfocused bore. I didn't see "less traditional structure", just a lack of one at all. I appreciate it for altering the perception of what cinema can be (it was Kevin Smith's inspiration; I joke because it means a movie can be anything, be it a "surreal" experience or a collection of meaningless drivel), but it did nothing for me personally. Not that Clerks changed my life or anything but its at least amusing. But hey, to each his own.

[Dukefrukem]

My goal for 2014 is knock 50 movies off this list.

[Qrazy]

FYI guys as someone who has gone through most of this list you're much better off going through the They Shoot Pictures top 1000. It's a much better list.

[Melville]

FYI guys as someone who has gone through most of this list you're much better off going through the They Shoot Pictures top 1000. It's a much better list.

Yeah, it's not a great list. But one of the reasons it's not great is also the reason I started working through it: it includes a lot of formally unambitious Hollywood movies. They don't lose too much when not given my full attention, which allows me to have them playing while I work on the less intellectually demanding tasks in my job. It's basically just a way to make work less tedious.

[dreamdead]

The Bigamist - Interesting to see a man cheating on his wife not due to uncontrollable lusts, but due to feeling unappreciated. Statistics tell me that's the more typical cause in reality. The movie could have done a lot more with its moral quandaries, though. 6/10

I knocked out this one this week. Lupino's direction is nicely understated, holding takes to let the performances become as realized as possible. And the film does a decent job in not demonizing any one party--hell, Eve almost ends up being the character most criticized, which certainly offers some interesting gender commentary on the rising role of career-minded women.

Some dialogue idiocies (I'd like to make it through a '50s film without hearing "you big lug"), and I'm not sure how pleased I am by the film's willingness to have Phyllis initially chastise Harry in the park only to let him off the hook. You're correct that the film weaves past some of the trickier ambiguities at work here. Still, the open-endedness of that denouement for this time period is harrowing, and it's those sort of small details that I expect will stick out longer than the larger narrative gaps.

[Qrazy]

I never did finish this. 116 films left to see. About 40 of those have some crossover with other best of lists so will lrobably make a bit of a dent by year's end. Been a long time since I actively watched classics other than here and there. Was lost to the world of TV and new releases for awhile there. Probably watched over 50 films since the virus began though.

[Yxklyx]

Is this the IMDB list "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die" we're talking about here?

[Dukefrukem]

My goal for 2014 is knock 50 movies off this list.

LOL!

[Qrazy]

Is this the IMDB list "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die" we're talking about here?

Yeah.