Because Nobody Asked For It: The Panda's Top 250 Movies of All Time - COMPLETE

[chasmmi]

Yeah you don't want to be cool and popular at 16.

 

It's peaking far too early

[aabattery]

 

Younger you made some questionable decisions that night.

Edited March 18, 2017 by aabattery

[The Panda]

Number 66

Jurassic Park (1993)

 

"Hold on to your butts."

 

Most Valuable Player: The Visual Effects Team

Box Office: 357.1m (745.7m Adjusted)

Tomatometer: 93%

Notable Awards: Won 3 Oscars

Synopsis: During a preview tour, a theme park suffers a major power breakdown that allows its cloned dinosaur exhibits to run amok.

Critic Opinion: "Who among us can honestly claim to look better today than we did 20 years ago? Those who do likely credit advancements in cosmetic surgeries and anti-aging techniques, which polish our blemishes and restore surface beauties.  The same goes for “Jurassic Park.” Steven Spielberg’s edge-of-your-seat blockbuster celebrates its 20th anniversary with a 3-D Imax restoration that improves digital effects that were considered spectacular for their time. The enthralling man-vs.-nature parable based on the late Michael Crichton’s best-selling novel hasn’t aged one bit. But the upgrade allows Spielberg’s larger-than-life dinosaurs to fit perfectly on today’s enlarged Imax screens — and occasionally terrify audiences when those beasts reach out and appear to be going for our popcorn." - O'Connell, Washington Post

User Opinion: " can't even write a review for this movie I love it so much. This is my favorite movie of all time and why I want to be a filmmaker.
 
everything about it. Not to mention I went at 4 years old opening day to the Lost World.
 
In 8th grade I got to see Jurassic Park on the largest movie screen on the west coast for its re-grand opening and it was the best theater experience of my life." - Jay Hollywood

Reasoning: Another massive 90s blockbuster, this one being an absolute wonder of visual effects.  There are few blockbusters today that could come even close to achieving the perfect popcorn filmmaking entertainment that Jurassic Park manages to instill.  I remember the dinosaurs being absolutely thrilling and terrifying as a child, and every scene still holds up to the suspense building that they did back when I first saw this movie.  Steven Spielberg is just an incredible filmmaker, when he misses, he still manages to get the ball into the park, and when he hits (such as with this film), boy does it hit.  All of the characters in the film are lively and exciting, they're played well by each actor, and you're left caring about what happens to each of them, which only helps to amplify the thrill and the awe that is instilled through the movie.  John Williams' score is one of his best, and it really helps to amplify the effect of so many of the scenes throughout the film.  All-in-all Jurassic Park is a perfect blockbuster.

Decade Count: 1930s: 9, 1940s: 12, 1950s: 12, 1960s: 18, 1970s: 19, 1980s: 35, 1990s: 27, 2000s: 23, 2010s: 26
Top 100 Decade Count: 1930s: 1, 1950s: 2, 1960s: 6, 1970s: 4, 1980s: 4, 1990s: 7, 2000s: 2, 2010s: 9

 

 

 

 

[The Panda]

Number 65

Mary Poppins (1964)

 

"Oh, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! Even though the sound of it is something quite atrocious, if you say it loud enough, you'll always sound precocious!"

 

Most Valuable Player: Julie Andrews for her Lead Performance

Box Office: 31m (288.3m Adjusted)

Tomatometer: 100%

Notable Awards: Won 5 Oscars, nominated for Best Picture

Synopsis: A magical nanny helps bring the two children she's in charge of closer to their father through songs and magical adventures.

Critic Opinion: "While it doesn't have the soft-edged sense of wonder that the Travers books have, Walt Disney's 1964 version of the Mary Poppins story does manage to avoid the usual saccharine excesses of his live-action work. It goes without saying that the semianimated sequences work best—the chimney-sweeps number may be bastard Broadway (with the aimless athleticism rented from Michael Kidd), but the grace of the effects makes it some kind of classic." - Kehr, Chicago Reader

User Opinion: "It seemed like this was the film where Walt Disney took everything he learned about filmmaking and applied it here and like Mary Poppins the film is practically perfect in every way. And let's start with Mary herself played by Julie Andrews who looks great and just nails the role. Dick Van Dyke's accent is pretty atrocious, but he still is fun. The kids Jane and Michael do a terrific job. And let's not forget the underrated and wonderful David Tomlinson a staple of Disney films in the 60's and 70's as Mr. Banks. Of course no mention of the film can be mentioned without the great Sherman Brothers songs. From Spoonful of Sugar to Supercalifraglisticexpealidocious to Chim Chim Cheree to Feed the Birds which was said to be Walt's favorite song. Love this movie." - DAR

Reasoning: An absolutely perfectly made musical.  You'd be hard-pressed to find somebody in the US who doesn't know the iconic musical numbers in this film, let alone seen this defining animated classic.  While, Robert Stevenson is the director of the film, and does a fine job at the helm, the real credit for the creation of this classic is Walt Disney himself.  You can see the man's ideas and oversight throughout the entire thing.  The actual musical numbers themselves are better than the majority of all of the Animated Classics, and they really bring a joyous sense of life onto the screen.  Beyond Walt, Julie Andrews truly takes the stage as the star of this show in a truly legendary performance, she became Mary Poppins and I am curious to see how Emily Blunt will possibly be able to fill those remarkably large shoes that were once filled by Andrews.  And even further, every technical aspect of the film from the editing to the cinematography is just absolutely brilliant, it shows off just how truly great musical can be.  Mary Poppins is a definitive film.

Decade Count: 1930s: 9, 1940s: 12, 1950s: 12, 1960s: 19, 1970s: 19, 1980s: 35, 1990s: 27, 2000s: 23, 2010s: 26
Top 100 Decade Count: 1930s: 1, 1950s: 2, 1960s: 7, 1970s: 4, 1980s: 4, 1990s: 7, 2000s: 2, 2010s: 9

 

 

 

[The Panda]

This one's just like... My opinion man.

 

Number 64

The Big Lebowski (1998)

 

"That rug really tied the room together."

 

Most Valuable Player: The Coen Brothers for their Direction and Screenplay

Box Office: 17.5m (32.2m Adjusted)

Tomatometer: 81%

Notable Awards: Preserved by the NFPB

Synopsis: "The Dude" Lebowski, mistaken for a millionaire Lebowski, seeks restitution for his ruined rug and enlists his bowling buddies to help get it.

Critic Opinion: "This comic update of the world crystallised by Raymond Chandler charts the disastrous involvement of laidback dopehead Jeff 'the Dude' Lebowski (Bridges) in a kidnapping case involving the wife of his millionaire namesake (Huddleston). The Dude is hired as bagman and of course finds himself increasingly at risk as he makes his way about an LA populated by the rich, strange and dangerous. Nor do his bowling buddies help: Donny (Buscemi) is frankly several pins short of a strike; while Walter (Goodman), a crazed, irascible Viet vet, is so determined to stand his (and the Dude's) ground that he causes more trouble than he solves. Immensely inventive and entertaining, the film may not have the enigmatic elegance or emotional resonance of Barton Fink or Fargo, but it's still a prime example of the Coens' effortless brand of stylistic and storytelling brilliance. Thanks to Roger Deakins' gleaming camerawork, T-Bone Burnett's eclectic soundtrack selection and the Coens' typically pithy dialogue, it looks and sounds wonderful. Moreover, far from being shallow pastiche, it's actually about something: what it means to be a man, to be a friend, and to be a 'hero' for a particular time and place." - Time Out

User Opinion:  "Yeeessssss! One of my favorite movies of all time.
This movie is a labyrinthine puzzle of a movie topped with great performances,
a million funny quotes and the typical, oddball humor of the Coens.
Love it, love it, love it. I have seen this at least 10 times.
Great soundtrack too." - Jack Nevada

Reasoning: The Big Lebowski is a weird one, because I don't really know anybody who just absolutely loved it right after they saw it for the first time.  It's one of those movies that the longer you let it sit, and the more you go back to watch it, the more everything comes together and the funnier just about everything in the film is.  Just the premise of it alone, a man being mistaken for a millionaire by a few thugs who pee on his rug, so he goes on a quest to get his compensation for ruining his rug, is absolutely hysterical.  The Big Lebowski isn't just a straight comedy though, it's filled with plenty of ideas, and they're all weirdly distorted and placed throughout the film, definitely not the most conventional of the Coen Brothers works. However, despite not having the loudest reception when it first came out, The Big Lebowski has stood the test of time for being something just so thoroughly unique that there really isn't another movie out there like it.  It's a brilliant comedy, one of the most quotable movies ever made and one of the finest works by two outstanding modern directors.

Decade Count: 1930s: 9, 1940s: 12, 1950s: 12, 1960s: 19, 1970s: 19, 1980s: 35, 1990s: 28, 2000s: 23, 2010s: 26
Top 100 Decade Count: 1930s: 1, 1950s: 2, 1960s: 7, 1970s: 4, 1980s: 4, 1990s: 8, 2000s: 2, 2010s: 9

 

 

 

[chasmmi]

I wish that I lived in a world that had 65 films better than Jurassic park in it. 

[The Panda]

Number 63

Shichinin no samurai (Seven Samurai) (1956)

 

"This is the nature of war: By protecting others, you save yourselves. If you only think of yourself, you'll only destroy yourself."

 

Most Valuable Player: Akira Kurosawa for his Screenplay and Direction

Box Office: N/A

Tomatometer: 100%

Notable Awards: Nominated for 2 Oscars

Synopsis:  A poor village under attack by bandits recruits seven unemployed samurai to help them defend themselves.

Critic Opinion: "The greatest movie ever made about warriors and battle is Akira Kurosawa's "Seven Samurai," a 3 1/2-hour saga about a group of masterless samurai in the 17th Century who hire on to protect a small village from bandit hordes. The last film in the Music Box's excellent series of restored Kurosawa classics, this spellbinding masterpiece follows those samurai as they are selected by their wise, endlessly resourceful leader, Kambei (Takashi Shimura), and face danger and death for a pittance--right up to a series of battles that are unprecedented in their realism, sweep and savage fury." - Wilmington, Chicago Tribune

User Opinion: "It may be apocryphal, but I remember hearing that this is the movie where Kurosawa "invented" the now-classic shot where a bunch of riders/enemies/whoever appear on horseback on the horizon of a hill or mountain. It had never been done before.
 
He's so brilliant with his framing, but so totally pragmatic too. There's a famous story that Sidney Lumet tells: "I once asked Akira Kurosawa why he had chosen to frame a shot in Ran in a particular way. His answer was that if he he’d panned the camera one inch to the left, the Sony factory would be sitting there exposed, and if he he’d panned an inch to the right, we would see the airport."
 
C'mon, that's just awesome." - Telemachos

Reasoning: One of the most grand and sweeping epics ever made, this is a movie that inspired so many action, sci-fi and fantasy favorites that came long after it.  From the influential shots taken throughout the film, to the adrenaline of plenty of action sequences, to moving characters and acts of heroism portrayed by each of them, Shichinin no samurai stands among the absolute top tier of its respected genre, because in many ways it's the father of it.  The film is incredibly long, lasting for three and a half hours, but the entire picture moves by at a breeze and never feels like its really dragging at any moment.  Each of the characters are given their moments, and none of them feel as if they are wasted in this film, which helps set it apart from other films that tried to copy the style and effect this movie went for.  This is a movie that, in my opinion, feels like one of the Great Westerns in style and tone, only instead of being set in the Great Plains, it takes place in Japan.  Seven Samurai is an incredibly entertaining film, but more than that, it's one of the most influential ones to have ever been made.

Decade Count: 1930s: 9, 1940s: 12, 1950s: 13, 1960s: 19, 1970s: 19, 1980s: 35, 1990s: 28, 2000s: 23, 2010s: 26
Top 100 Decade Count: 1930s: 1, 1950s: 3, 1960s: 7, 1970s: 4, 1980s: 4, 1990s: 8, 2000s: 2, 2010s: 9

 

 

 

 

[The Panda]

Number 62

Jaws (1975)

 

"You're gonna need a bigger boat."

 

Most Valuable Player: Steven Spielberg's Direction

Box Office: 260m (1.12B Adjusted)

Tomatometer: 97%

Notable Awards: Won 3 Oscars, was nominated for Best Picture

Synopsis: A giant great white shark arrives on the shores of a New England beach resort and wreaks havoc with bloody attacks on swimmers, until a part-time sheriff teams up with a marine biologist and an old seafarer to hunt the monster down.

Critic Opinion: "Director Steven Spielberg has immeasurably improved the bestselling Peter Benchley potboiler novel. Just as with "The Exorcist," the realism and the special effects ended up nearly doubling the original budget -- but the money shows on screen in the form of total credibility. The cameras are aboard the boats, at water level with bathers and underwater for shark's-eye subjective views of swimmers' torsos. The minor plot discrepancy -- three men chasing a 6,000-pound, 25-foot behemoth on a small boat instead of calling in the Coast Guard -- is poetic license, an excuse for personal adventure.  Spielberg masterfully sets the breathless pace with the attack on a girl within the first few moments of the film's opening, keeps it going long before we see the shark, escalates it into sheer panic on a Fourth of July day at the beach of the fictional resort of Amity, and carries it right through to the man-to-shark combat at film's end." - Gelmis, Newsday

User Opinion:  "Legend, last Sunday I had a very similar experience to what you describe. It was my first time to see this glorious film on the big screen.
 
Cool to see it with a crowd. The digital print and projection were top notch and the theater was nice enough to put it on a legit big screen (at least 40 feet wide).
 
Seeing it on a much larger canvas than the TV screen makes you realize how good the cinematography is. Love the seascapes of the water, boats, barrels, etc.
 
Ultimately though it's about the characters. Scheider, Dreyfuss, and Shaw are a legendary trio. The movie is very underrated in the humor department. Many memorable lines and funny moments. Hollywood just doesn't make movies like they used to and seeing Jaws on the big screen is excellent proof of that fact. The original blockbuster is still the best blockbuster of all-time." - redfirebird2008

Reasoning: The movie that made blockbusters a thing, quite possibly, actually I'd say with certainty, the most influential blockbuster of all time.  Jaws really helped set up our Summer Blockbuster season of movies and is what makes following the Box Office so much fun, so no doubt it receives plenty of love on this Box Office website.  But beyond being a box office smash, Jaws is simply a perfectly made film on Spielberg's part.  The animatronic shark absolutely does its job, setting up for some of the most fun jolts and thrills in any blockbuster.  The screenplay is iconic, with plenty of quotable and escapist fair lines, leaving you smiling and entertained when the Shark isn't on the screen.  John Williams' score is at his most iconic, even if he artistically borrows quite a bit from Dvorak's Symphony of the New World.  Anyways, Jaws is the definition of an Escapist Summerfare Blockbuster, an absolute blast of a movie.

Decade Count: 1930s: 9, 1940s: 12, 1950s: 13, 1960s: 19, 1970s: 20, 1980s: 35, 1990s: 28, 2000s: 23, 2010s: 26
Top 100 Decade Count: 1930s: 1, 1950s: 3, 1960s: 7, 1970s: 5, 1980s: 4, 1990s: 8, 2000s: 2, 2010s: 9

 

 

 

[Plain Old Tele]

Re: TLK, you're one smooth operator, @Beauty and The Panda.

 

Also, Jesus, the fact that this youthful event happened during the 3D re-release.....

 

[The Panda]

Number 61

The Last of the Mohicans (1992)

 

"No matter how long it takes, no matter how far. I will find you!"

 

Most Valuable Player: Spinotti for his Cinematography

Box Office: 75.5m (157.4m Adjusted)

Tomatometer: 94%

Notable Awards: Won 1 Oscar

Synopsis: Three trappers protect a British Colonel's daughters in the midst of the French and Indian War.

Critic Opinion: "big, bold, and gloriously sweeping. It's about the love of Hawkeye, the adopted Mohican, and Cora, the daughter of a British commander stationed in America during the mid-1700s. War and tragedy swirl around them as they struggle to find their own kind of private solace. Bold and stirring with impeccable production values, The Last of the Mohicans is a memorable motion picture adventure, and one of the best films of the year." - Berardinelli, ReelViews

User Opinion: "Loved it!
 
A lush, beautiful and sweeping action adventure. The soaring and gorgeous score is an all-timer (I adored the violin motif that played during the final chase scene on the mountainside, and the achingly beautiful theme when DDL told the story of the sun, moon and the stars).
 
The movie also shows that you don't need three and a half hours to tell an epic story." - The Stingray

Reasoning:  The Last of the Mohicans, based on the classic American novel by James Fenimore Cooper, is another epic to make it onto my list, and for good reason.  The film is absolutely grand and beautiful in its nature, it's a definitive adaption to one of the greatest American novels ever written.  The film is adrenaline pumping and it goes non-stop, it hurls you into the action of it all and it leaves you to catch onto everything that's happening, and it simply works wonders.  Daniel Day-Lewis, as always, brings out his acting guns in this role, making himself an action star with some great dramatic heft.  This is the kind of tentpole that I wish Hollywood would make more of, as it's not only wickedly entertaining, it manages to be fairly moving and actually gives you some depth to sink yourself into rather than your typical superhero flick to come out now.  The score of the film is sweeping and memorable, the cinematography is fantastic, and Michael Mann surprises with how well he directs this piece.  With thrilling action and fully realized characters, the Last of the Mohicans is another Epic that I really can't find a flaw with.

Decade Count: 1930s: 9, 1940s: 12, 1950s: 13, 1960s: 19, 1970s: 20, 1980s: 35, 1990s: 29, 2000s: 23, 2010s: 26
Top 100 Decade Count: 1930s: 1, 1950s: 3, 1960s: 7, 1970s: 5, 1980s: 4, 1990s: 9, 2000s: 2, 2010s: 9

 

 

 

[The Panda]

Number 60

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)

 

"Don't that picture look dusty?"

 

Most Valuable Player: Casey Affleck and Brad Pitt's Performances

Box Office: 3.9m (4.9m Adjusted)

Tomatometer: 76%

Notable Awards: Nominated for 2 Oscars

Synopsis: Robert Ford, who's idolized Jesse James since childhood, tries hard to join the reforming gang of the Missouri outlaw, but gradually becomes resentful of the bandit leader.

Critic Opinion: "Now, when a movie gives away as much in its title as this one does, a filmmaker had better have something besides plot up his sleeve. What writer-director Andrew Dominik has is a psychological landscape as weirdly mythic as the one his camera keeps sweeping majestically across.  Brad Pitt's paranoid Jesse James, with his easy grin and steely gaze, is an oddly ideal match for Casey Affleck's needy, creepy, high-school-shooter of a Robert Ford. Pitt won the Best Actor award at the Venice Film Festival, but it's Affleck you can't take your eyes off, especially once he's made up his mind to kill his hero." - Mondello, NPR

User Opinion: "It may be a film about betrayal, but oh man, this is so much more than that.  Beautifully shot, great score, and potentially one of the strongest displays of an acting ensemble I've ever seen. Pitt, Affleck, and Rockwell were magnificent. This is one of those films that really creeps up on you with its greatness. It's a slow-moving, intricate film that takes time to build up the characters and get you into the atmosphere of the film.  I love how nothing in the film is simply black or white. Every character is multi-dimensional, and multi-layered. It's simply one of those films that you get so involved with, you forget you're watching a movie. The 10-minute epilogue at the end was also fantastic......ironic, heartbreaking, poignant, and somewhat devastating.  Definitely in my top 50 all-time." - mattmav45

Reasoning:  A slow moving Western character piece that deals with what it means to be a celebrity, to become a legend, paranoia, legacies and the whole ordeal. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is a movie that really works you over time, and the subtleties of it all leave it feeling almost like it's a revelation. At the center of the movie are the performances by Casey Affleck and Brad Pitt, both of the actors deliver some of the best performances of their careers, and Casey Affleck is absolutely eye-drawing in this movie. The cinematography of the film is gorgeous, the fact that Deakins has yet to win an Oscar is an absolute sham, and this film is proof of it. The score of the movie is the best of 21st century, a slow-building minimalistic work that fits with the nature and tone of the film that it's played for. This film feels absolutely real, taking the Western genre and deconstructing many of these big personality archetypes and making them human. Assassination is a powerful and affecting film that leaves an impact long after you first watch it.

Decade Count: 1930s: 9, 1940s: 12, 1950s: 13, 1960s: 19, 1970s: 20, 1980s: 35, 1990s: 29, 2000s: 24, 2010s: 26
Top 100 Decade Count: 1930s: 1, 1950s: 3, 1960s: 7, 1970s: 5, 1980s: 4, 1990s: 9, 2000s: 3, 2010s: 9

 

 

 

 

Edited March 19, 2017 by Beauty and The Panda

[The Panda]

Number 59

Cidade de Deus (City of God) (2003)

 

"You need more than guts to be a good gangster. You need ideas."

 

Most Valuable Player: Fernando Meirelles for his Direction

Box Office: 7.6m (10.7m Adjusted)

Tomatometer: 90%

Notable Awards: Nominated for 4 Oscars

Synopsis: Two boys growing up in a violent neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro take different paths: one becomes a photographer, the other a drug dealer.

 

Critic Opinion: ""City of God" churns with furious energy as it plunges into the story of the slum gangs of Rio de Janeiro. Breathtaking and terrifying, urgently involved with its characters, it announces a new director of great gifts and passions: Fernando Meirelles. Remember the name. The film has been compared with Scorsese's "GoodFellas," and it deserves the comparison. Scorsese's film began with a narrator who said that for as long as he could remember he wanted to be a gangster. The narrator of this film seems to have had no other choice.  The movie takes place in slums constructed by Rio to isolate the poor people from the city center. They have grown into places teeming with life, color, music and excitement--and also with danger, for the law is absent and violent gangs rule the streets. In the virtuoso sequence opening the picture, a gang is holding a picnic for its members when a chicken escapes. Among those chasing it is Rocket (Alexandre Rodrigues), the narrator. He suddenly finds himself between two armed lines: the gang on one side, the cops on the other." - Roger Ebert

User Opinion:  "I remember when I first saw this I was simply blown away. Taking us into the crime world of Rio De Janeiro it belongs up there with the great crime films, like the Godfather, Goodfellas, Mean Streets, etc. It's an epic film that spins three decades. It's got great performances from mostly non actors. It's brutal and violent and very harrowing. And the ending of this movie is scarier than anything I've seen in a horror movie. If you haven't seen it please do." - DAR

Reasoning: Absolutely breathtaking in its scope and horrifyingly real in how it presents the slums of Rio de Janeiro, Cidade de Deus is a crime/gangster epic on the scale of something you'd see from Scorsese.  The biggest thing that sets this apart from Scorsese is while his films always felt like fiction, this one feels brutally real, and that's honestly because everything portrayed in the film practically is.  Yes, the film is fiction, but the novel by Paulo Lins is grounded in very real social and cultural problems that are/were present in Rio in the time that it was written, this film portrays them as how they were.  The film is brutal, violent and can quite hard to watch, especially given the fact you often feel as if you're watching real life happen before your eyes, but that's what makes the whole ordeal an even more powerful experience.  My only knock against this movie would be it's not a movie you're going to want to go and watch again, but then again, isn't that the purpose of the film?  City of God uses its medium to not only tell a compelling story but to offer a call to action for the viewers.

Decade Count: 1930s: 9, 1940s: 12, 1950s: 13, 1960s: 19, 1970s: 20, 1980s: 35, 1990s: 29, 2000s: 25, 2010s: 26
Top 100 Decade Count: 1930s: 1, 1950s: 3, 1960s: 7, 1970s: 5, 1980s: 4, 1990s: 9, 2000s: 4, 2010s: 9

 

 

 

 

 

 

[The Panda]

Number 58

Finding Nemo (2003)

 

"Fish are friends, not food."

 

Most Valuable Player: Andrew Stanton for Directing and Writing

Box Office: 339.7m (487.3m Adjusted)

Tomatometer: 99%

Notable Awards: Won 1 Oscar

Synopsis: After his son is captured in the Great Barrier Reef and taken to Sydney, a timid clownfish sets out on a journey to bring him home.

Critic Opinion: "A host of actors from Down Under — Geoffrey Rush, Barry Humphries, Eric Bana, Bruce Spence — add their voices to the mix. (And yes, for some reason, talking seagulls and pelicans are even funnier when they bicker and gossip with Australian accents.) DeGeneres stands out even in this talented crowd; her Dory is befuddled but gentle, wildly funny when imitating a whale or forgetting Nemo's name (Fabio? Harpo? Elmo?), but touchingly direct and simple when speaking from the heart. "When I look at you, I'm home," Dory tells Marlin, in a charming definition of friendship.  There's plenty of detail in "Finding Nemo" that will reward repeat viewings — watch for the boat named "The Surly Mermaid," or the fish who casually remarks, "I'm H20 intolerant," or the snail who speaks French. But like all of the Pixar movies, it's ultimately a story of love and friendship, wrapped in wondrous visuals." - MAcDonald, Seattle Times

User Opinion: "Every time I watch this I keep fearing that I'll end up thinking it's a better film in memory than in actuality. But every time I end up loving it just as much. Watching this film (much like WALL-E) is an experience. You become fully immersed in the beauty of the world and the likability of the characters. It's the first Pixar film that really feels "epic". 
 
Also, everyone sings Ellen's praises, but I don't think nearly enough is made of Alexander Gould's performance as Nemo. He gives one of the most affecting, emotional performances I've heard from any child actor." - tribefan

Reasoning: I think there was a point in my life where I would have ranked this as my number 1 or number 2 film of all time, I have since then come to appreciate it a little bit less than that, but that doesn't mean I'm still not deeply fond of this movie. More than fond really, I do love it, and it's my second favorite Pixar outing. While, Finding Nemo isn't the most complex in thematic material, character arcs or plotlines compared to other Pixar affairs, it is perhaps one of their most endearing movies. The film feels grand in scope, despite being rather short in length, and I am always moved by the father-son/parent-child relationship aspect of the movie. How far do you travel and go to ensure the safety of somebody you love? Across the ocean and back of course, but only to find that maybe the greatest deed you can do is to simply let go a little. Finding Nemo is breathtakingly beautiful in its animation, Thomas Newman's score is among his best, and the voice acting is great (as always by Pixar). Finding Nemo is a personal children's epic about a fish, and it's one my favorites.

Decade Count: 1930s: 9, 1940s: 12, 1950s: 13, 1960s: 19, 1970s: 20, 1980s: 35, 1990s: 29, 2000s: 26, 2010s: 26
Top 100 Decade Count: 1930s: 1, 1950s: 3, 1960s: 7, 1970s: 5, 1980s: 4, 1990s: 9, 2000s: 5, 2010s: 9

 

 

 

 

[The Panda]

Number 57

Psycho (1960)

 

"It's not like my mother is a maniac or a raving thing. She just goes a little mad sometimes. We all go a little mad sometimes."

 

Most Valuable Player: Alfred Hitchock's Direction

Box Office: 32m (369.1m Adjusted)

Tomatometer: 96%

Notable Awards: Nominated for 4 Oscars

Synopsis: A Phoenix secretary embezzles $40,000 from her employer's client, goes on the run, and checks into a remote motel run by a young man under the domination of his mother.

Critic Opinion: "The obvious thing to say is that Hitch has done it again; that the suspense of his picture builds up slowly but surely to an almost unbearable pitch of excitement. “Psycho” is a murder mystery. It isn’t Hitchcock’s usual terrifier, a shocker of the nervous system; it’s a mind-teaser." - Hale, New York Daily News (1960)

User Opinion: "This film (which is an almost word-for-word adaptation of the novel) is actually hindered by its popularity. The best way to see Psycho is to do so with absolutely no knowledge of what's going to happen. But it has become such an iconic film, that it is practically impossible to do that now. I like to watch it and imagine the absolute shock that must have overcome people seeing it in its initial run. The film starts out as the story of Marion Crane. How she perpetrates this crime for love. It seems like it is following a routine direction. And there is so much time devoted to her character, and what she's going through. And then for the film to make such a drastic change in direction with the shower scene.... wow.It's so hard NOW to recognize that sudden shift. Simply because, for most of us, we've simply known for our entire lives that that's what the film was about. But to have seen it with no knowledge... man, that must have been a real head-job back in its time!!" - MagnetMan

Reasoning: There aren't many films from pre-1970s that are instantly recognizable with their name, and furthermore with such an iconic scene to click instantly with the name, but Psycho is one of the few that manages so.  Alfred Hitchcock is a director who has appeared many times on my list, and he isn't done yet, and there's a good reason for it.  Hitchcock is just simply that good of a director.  He knows how to wind up suspense and release like a Jack-n-the-Box, filmmaking seems to come to Hitchcock like the answer to a mathematical problem, as if its a formula he has mastered and plugs and chugs away with ease.  There's far more to how great Psycho is beyond the iconic shower scene, and it's probably best to leave the movie to be discovered by those who (for some reason) have not seen this movie yet.  Psycho set the stage for so many horror films to follow it, and in many ways its the movie that truly made that genre what it is today.

Decade Count: 1930s: 9, 1940s: 12, 1950s: 13, 1960s: 20, 1970s: 20, 1980s: 35, 1990s: 29, 2000s: 26, 2010s: 26
Top 100 Decade Count: 1930s: 1, 1950s: 3, 1960s: 8, 1970s: 5, 1980s: 4, 1990s: 9, 2000s: 5, 2010s: 9

 

 

 

[The Panda]

Number 56

Boyhood (2014)

 

"I just thought there would be more."

 

Most Valuable Player: Richard Linklater's Direction

Box Office: 25.4m (27.1m Adjusted)

Tomatometer: 98%

Notable Awards: Won 1 Oscar, nominated for Best Picture

Synopsis: The life of Mason, from early childhood to his arrival at college.

Critic Opinion: "Linklater has already experimented with time in his Before trilogy with Hawke and Julie Delpy, who play the same characters in three movies over an 18-year period, each film set within a 12-hour time frame. The risk in Boyhood was obviously much greater, though the quasi-documentary approach allows the freedom of not having to tie up all the narrative loose ends.  At one point, Olivia advises an immigrant gardener to go back to school, and he pops up a few years later in a new role, grateful for her advice. But those happy coincidences are as rare as they are in life. Other characters – including Mason and Lorelei’s unhappy stepsiblings – simply fall out of the picture, as people sometimes do.  Though photography and cinema have long made special claims for representing reality, in the era of computer-generated imagery and Instagram home snaps we no longer assume that any film is an accurate record of life. Yet Linklater’s experiment in temporal sampling reminds us how much film can serve as a gateway to a larger reality. Throughout Boyhood, we recognize one moment after another, and those moments trigger our own sense of the patterns in our lives." - Lacey, Globe and Mail

User Opinion:  "Anyways a masterpiece and I loved it from like the first ten seconds on. My heart wanted it to last forever but my bladder was like "END THIS SHIT NOW" right around the time he graduated high school.
 
Anyways it's interesting the moments of Boyhood this movie chose to show: in many ways, it skips the "firsts" and in doing so, finds beauty in the moment. And it's easy to believe the movie's ultimate conclusion that you don't seize the moment, it seizes you: and it's always happening." - Water Bottle

Reasoning: Boyhood is quite a unique movie, and there is literally no other movie that has ever been made that does what Linklater did with Boyhood.  I don't my reasoning to just be, "12 YEARS OF FILMING!?  WOW, DEDICATION!  BEST MOVIE EVA" like some of the reactions at the time it released were, but seriously the time put into crafting this masterpiece really pays off.  It's completely seamless and lifelike in its editing, and deserved that editing Oscar more than Whiplash mind you, and it's absolute marvel to watch all of the actors age before your eyes throughout the film.  Beyond the way Linklater manages to organically play with time, he also crafts relationships and scenes that all feel so natural, but have a deep affection about them all.  It's a work that contemplates life, more specifically a period in your life where so much transformation happens, and instead of trying to explain it, he simply shows it.  The movie isn't a cliche montage of all of the highlights of Mason's life, in fact many of those key moments are left to happen off-screen.  Instead of focusing on life as milestone to milestone, as many seem to see life as, Linklater takes the opportunity to break down that myth.  Anyways, Boyhood is masterfully made film in just about every aspect, and it's become an instant and modern classic.

Decade Count: 1930s: 9, 1940s: 12, 1950s: 13, 1960s: 20, 1970s: 20, 1980s: 35, 1990s: 29, 2000s: 26, 2010s: 27
Top 100 Decade Count: 1930s: 1, 1950s: 3, 1960s: 8, 1970s: 5, 1980s: 4, 1990s: 9, 2000s: 5, 2010s: 10

 

 

 

 

Edited March 19, 2017 by Beauty and The Panda

[The Panda]

Number 55

Planet of the Apes (1968)

 

"Take your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape!"

 

Most Valuable Player: Rod Sterling and Michael Wilson's Screenplay

Box Office: 32.6m (215.2m Adjusted)

Tomatometer: 90%

Notable Awards: Nominated for 2 Oscars

Synopsis:  An astronaut crew crash-lands on a planet in the distant future where intelligent talking apes are the dominant species, and humans are the oppressed and enslaved.

Critic Opinion: "Planet of the Apes is an amazing film. A political-sociological allegory, cast in the mold of futuristic science-fiction, it is an intriguing blend of chilling satire, a sometimes ludicrous juxtaposition of human and ape mores, optimism and pessimism.  Pierre Boulle’s novel, in which US space explorers find themselves in a world dominated by apes, has been adapted by Michael Wilson and Rod Serling.  The totality of the film works very well, leading to a surprise ending. The suspense, and suspension of belief, engendered is one of the film’s biggest assets." - Variety Staff

User Opinion:  "This is one of the best films I have ever seen and it is one that I am going to get my kids to watch someday. Burton's is fun and thought-provoking. This one is simply mind blowing and intellectually stimulating. This is a must see for any generation."

Reasoning: A sci-fi classic, and if you don't know why it is by now (Especially with the strong reboot series going on right now) then you really need to get on that.  Planet of the Apes is an intellectual sci-fi hit that knows exactly when to entertain and when to raise questions.  The film plays out almost like a mystery, wondering why the planet is the way it is, and it raises eyes to see the human's enslaved and dumbed down.  The production value of the movie is absolutely stellar, especially from the make-up department, which John Chambers rightfully was awarded an honorary Oscar later on in life for.  Jerry Goldsmith's score is 20th century to the max and rather unique to many of the Romantic sounding film scores that surround it, Goldsmith really does something different with the cool minimalist style of his accompaniment for the film.  The ending of the film is even more so of a classic, it stands as one of the greatest plot twists to have ever been made in a movie, and it really brings everything about the film together.  There's a reason Planet of the Apes has remained in the social conscious to this day, it's just that good.

Decade Count: 1930s: 9, 1940s: 12, 1950s: 13, 1960s: 21, 1970s: 20, 1980s: 35, 1990s: 29, 2000s: 26, 2010s: 27
Top 100 Decade Count: 1930s: 1, 1950s: 3, 1960s: 9, 1970s: 5, 1980s: 4, 1990s: 9, 2000s: 5, 2010s: 10

 

 

 

 

[baumer]

"When the Pirates of the Caribbean breaks down, it doesn't eat the tourists"

"Shut the fuck up Donny"

"Japanese submarine slammed two torpedoes into our side, chief."

"Mother!  Oh mother!"

"Take your stinkin paws off me you damn dirty ape!"

 

Some epic choices here Panda!

[The Stingray]

Yeah, some incredible movies on here. Keep up the good work!

 

City of God 

[Ethan Hunt]

So low for Nemo

[The Panda]

3 minutes ago, Ethan Hunt said:

So low for Nemo

 

It's fourth highest animation though