the 100 best films of the last 25 years, so they say

[topaz]

I learned today from soylent_screen  that Entertainment Weekly announced their picks for the 100 best films of the last 25 years:

1. Pulp Fiction (1994)
2. The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001-03)
3. Titanic (1997)
4. Blue Velvet (1986)
5. Toy Story (1995)
6. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
7. Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
8. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
9. Die Hard (1988)
10. Moulin Rouge (2001)
11. This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
12. The Matrix (1999)
13. GoodFellas (1990)
14. Crumb (1995)
15. Edward Scissorhands (1990)
16. Boogie Nights (1997)
17. Jerry Maguire (1996)
18. Do the Right Thing (1989)
19. Casino Royale (2006)
20. The Lion King (1994)
21. Schindler's List (1993)
22. Rushmore (1998)
23. Memento (2001)
24. A Room With a View (1986)
25. Shrek (2001)
26. Hoop Dreams (1994)
27. Aliens (1986)
28. Wings of Desire (1988)
29. The Bourne Supremacy (2004)
30. When Harry Met Sally... (1989)
31. Brokeback Mountain (2005)
32. Fight Club (1999)
33. The Breakfast Club (1985)
34. Fargo (1996)
35. The Incredibles (2004)
36. Spider-Man 2 (2004)
37. Pretty Woman (1990)
38. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
39. The Sixth Sense (1999)
40. Speed (1994)
41. Dazed and Confused (1993)
42. Clueless (1995)
43. Gladiator (2000)
44. The Player (1992)
45. Rain Man (1988)
46. Children of Men (2006)
47. Men in Black (1997)
48. Scarface (1983)
49. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
50. The Piano (1993)
51. There Will Be Blood (2007)
52. The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad (1988)
53. The Truman Show (1998)
54. Fatal Attraction (1987)
55. Risky Business (1983)
56. The Lives of Others (2006)
57. There’s Something About Mary (1998)
58. Ghostbusters (1984)
59. L.A. Confidential (1997)
60. Scream (1996)
61. Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
62. sex, lies and videotape (1989)
63. Big (1988)
64. No Country For Old Men (2007)
65. Dirty Dancing (1987)
66. Natural Born Killers (1994)
67. Donnie Brasco (1997)
68. Witness (1985)
69. All About My Mother (1999)
70. Broadcast News (1987)
71. Unforgiven (1992)
72. Thelma & Louise (1991)
73. Office Space (1999)
74. Drugstore Cowboy (1989)
75. Out of Africa (1985)
76. The Departed (2006)
77. Sid and Nancy (1986)
78. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
79. Waiting for Guffman (1996)
80. Michael Clayton (2007)
81. Moonstruck (1987)
82. Lost in Translation (2003)
83. Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn (1987)
84. Sideways (2004)
85. The 40 Year-Old Virgin (2005)
86. Y Tu Mamá También (2002)
87. Swingers (1996)
88. Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)
89. Breaking the Waves (1996)
90. Napoleon Dynamite (2004)
91. Back to the Future (1985)
92. Menace II Society (1993)
93. Ed Wood (1994)
94. Full Metal Jacket (1987)
95. In the Mood for Love (2001)
96. Far From Heaven (2002)
97. Glory (1989)
98. The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)
99. The Blair Witch Project (1999)
100. South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut (1999)

Which means, of course, that I have to bitch about their choices.

Actually I don't think it's all that bad a list. A list of the 100 best films of anything is kind of ridiculous in the first place, so once you get past that it's not bad. Of course I have objections, though. Titanic was cleverly made but was artistically irredeemable. Blue Velvet: very daring in 1986, but kind of passé today. And so on.

If this were my list, these are some of the changes I would make:

The Lion King ----> Beauty And The Beast or The Little Mermaid

Pretty Woman ----> Steel Magnolias: just as maudlin but about a thousand times better written, fills the Julia Roberts quotient, and keeps Richard Gere off the list. What more could you ask for?

Gladiator ----> To Die For. Preserves the Joaquin Phoenix balance. Also: a movie that actually had a script. Bonus!

sex, lies and videotape ----> Traffic. Steven Soderbergh is an excellent director, but s, l and v isn't it. (Runner-up: Ocean's 11, 2001 edition)

Dirty Dancing ----> Ghost. If we absolutely have to have Patrick Swayze on this list, then by god we're going to get Whoopi Goldberg too.

Jerry Maguire ----> Almost Famous but I'd put just about any other Cameron Crowe movie here first, even Vanilla Sky, I swear to God.

Unforgiven ----> Million Dollar Baby. Yes, Unforgiven got rave reviews. It just didn't move me. Suck it. Million Dollar Baby, on the other hand, is an indisputable tour de force.

The Departed ----> The Color of Money. I know I'm the only person in the world who didn't care for The Departed, but look. The list already got the movie Marty should have won for, and it doesn't have a single Paul Newman movie on it. And as far as I'm concerned no list of 100 movies is complete without at least one Paul Newman movie, and I don't care if it's the 100 best movies about construction workers or the 100 best West German apocalypse movies, if there isn't a Paul Newman movie on your list then there is something deeply wrong with your soul.

Comments

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

Not sure about The Color of Money... i don't really want to have a movie with Tom Cruise. Nobody's Fool was definitely a good `un.

No Dr. Strangelove? No Amadeus?? No Network??? Grievous errors. Pulp Fiction #1? Ludicrous. Of the three Bourne flicks, why Supremacy?

If we're talking Almodóvar, i'd choose Talk to Her over All About My Mother, but maybe that's just me.

Lost in Translation is so damn overrated... yes, great acting, especially by Murray, but barely enough plot for a 30-minute TV episode, let alone a movie.

If there really had to be two Guest mockumentaries in the list, Best in Show was much better than Waiting for Guffman.

[entrope.livejournal.com]

> No Network???

Network came out in 1976.

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

I have a deep fondness for The Color of Money. I know everyone else thinks it's one of Scorsese's weakest efforts. I think it's underrated. Someday I'll write about that too.

And yeah, this is a list from the last 25 years, or Dr. Strangelove and Network would have to be on it for sure.

I still have quibbles with the list and think Amadeus would be a strong choice, but these are just the things that I couldn't let pass. Pretty Woman. Jesus.

Jerry Orbach is my Daddy

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

Dirty Dancing ----> Ghost

?!?!!??

Dirty Dancing is a *classic*. And you'd replace it with GHOST?? Yeesh.


You're not the man I thought you were.

Re: Jerry Orbach is my Daddy

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

In a New York minute, baby.

I have to agree that Jerry Orbach was an undervalued treasure. (Crimes and Misdemeanors! Another loss!) He was worth watching in just about everything he was in, including Dirty Dancing, but for me that didn't make the movie worthwhile.

(Does this mean it's over between us?)

[moontoad.livejournal.com]

I've only seen 49 of those. I'm a bad movie watcher, but not by choice. I have an overwhelming desire to see Boogie Nights, however. And I still haven't seen the Lord of the Rings trilogy, even though the DVDs are in the house.

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

Boogie Nights is utterly fantastic. One of the best movies of the last decade. I don't think you will be disappointed.

The Lord of the Rings movies are sort of a challenge to watch just because of their sheer length.

[harimad.livejournal.com]

The relative lack of dialog might be an advantage, here.

[crouchback.livejournal.com]

They have Men in Black, but not The Prestige?

And where is The Bride With White Hair, which was far superior to Gladiator?

[badlittlemonkey.livejournal.com]

I wasn't having too much beef with the list overall, minor quibbles aside... until I get to Speed at number friggin' 40. OK, yes, it was a pretty good action flick -- but one of the best 100 movies of the last 25 years? Please.

Pesonally, I'd substitute Finding Nemo for Toy Story -- TS was certainly a more influential movie, but Nemo was a better movie movie.

[khedron.livejournal.com]

I wasn't having too much beef with the list overall, minor quibbles aside... until I get to Speed at number friggin' 40.

All I can remember of "Speed" at this point is the ludicrous physics. _Was_ it a pretty good action flick? I just remember it being goofy.

Seeing this on the list led to a conversation about whether they mean "influential" or "best", because they're just not the same thing.

[badlittlemonkey.livejournal.com]

_Was_ it a pretty good action flick? I just remember it being goofy.

It was entertaining. It was fun. It did what it was trying to do just fine, but it certainly doesn't belong on this list. Especially as its presence means we have far too much Keanu Reeves on the list now. :)

[badlittlemonkey.livejournal.com]

Also: how on earth is Batman Begins not on here?

I sincerely believe the editors and writers at EW put these lists together more to stir up shit (and therefore get people talking about it, like we're doing, and therefore hopefully sell more magazines) than actually to produce any sort of "definitive" list (whatever the hell that might mean).

[harimad.livejournal.com]

And for magazines like this, one cannot legitimately forget the role that advertising dollars play in the editorial process.

[badlittlemonkey.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes, indeed. Excellent point.

Though I still think EW should have paid respect to their TIme Warner corporate overlords by including corporate-sibling Warner Bros.' Batman Begins on the list. But really, that's just me looking for more reason to have it included. :)

[harimad.livejournal.com]

In the interests of including important/groundbreaking films, whatever movie was the first "reset" of a series should be on the list. Off the top of my head I don't know which it is.

I enjoyed Batman Begins but liked the first two X-Men more. I hope that if there's a 4th X-Men the writers/director(s) pull a Highlander and ignore the existence of #3 entirely.

[opadit.livejournal.com]

I can't watch Unforgiven without falling asleep. Maybe you and I are the only people in the world who aren't fans.

As for sex, lies and videotape, the conventional wisdom is that it opened the door for the indie movement of the 1990s. We wouldn't have Traffic (or Pulp Fiction, or a million others, good and bad) if it hadn't been for sex, lies and videotape. That's the party line, anyway.

[blk]

Hey, I've seen 39 of these! I'm catching up in the world!

[harimad.livejournal.com]

Schindler's List way down at #21?!? Below such schlock as Jerry Maguire? Ouch! Glory barely made the list and was roundly beaten by predictable, stereotypical tripe such as Dirty Dancing? Double ouch! What makes the Bourne Supremacy or Spider Man 2 so great?

I think significant or genre-changing movies belong on lists such as this, even if the movies are passe now. Stagecoach and Way Down East are good examples of this. Also, 100 movies is too many for a mere 25 years, especially since it takes a while for recent films to "settle down" into a realistic judgement.

I'll take the AFI's Top 100 List (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AFI's_100_Years..._100_Movies) any day. The original please, not the 10th Anniversary edition.

[awfief.livejournal.com]

hey, did I leave a comment that got deleted? I'm OK if I did, but .... I thought I left one, spent a lot of time on it, too...and it doesn't seem to be here. :(

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

Eeef! I haven't deleted any comments, fwiw, and haven't had any anonymous comments that got screened. :-(

[awfief.livejournal.com]

dammit!

[harimad.livejournal.com]

Happens to me also and darn if I know why.

[jss]

Are you sure it was on this entry? I was all pissed at LJ losing an entry I posted (just before their brief undocumented outage the other day) only to find that I'd posted it to the wrong community.

[awfief.livejournal.com]

I'm absolutely sure it was this entry -- I'm completely unsure as to whether I actually clicked "post comment".