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

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Number 54

Tarzan (1999)

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"See? We're exactly the same."

 

Most Valuable Player: Phil Collins for his Soundtrack

Box Office: 171.1m (291.3 Adjusted)

Tomatometer: 88%

Notable Awards: Won 1 Oscar

Synopsis: A man raised by gorillas must decide where he really belongs when he discovers he is a human.

Critic Opinion: "Tarzan has wonderful playmates in an aggressive young gorilla, Terk (O'Donnell) and a funny, nervous elephant named Tantor (Knight).  By the time Jane (Driver) arrives, Tarzan is almost king of his intimate world. But Jane, in her yellow Victorian dress, accompanied by her doddering professor dad (Hawthorne), soon sets Tarzan physically, romantically and culturally on his ear.  One of the most touching themes is Tarzan's discovery of the human world while his gorilla mom watches with bittersweet resignation. She knows that once he embraces human society there will be no turning back." - Stack, San Francisco Chronicle

User Opinion: "What needs to be said is Tarzan's animation is the best that has ever been seen in a feature film, especially Glen Keane's supervising animation of Tarzan and Ken Duncan's animation of Jane.
 
I wish that the studio could have continued to make movies this way, but the executives eventually decided that people only wanted to see CG movies. Quite the asinine decision, because audiences were rejecting Disney's movies at that point because they were subpar movies, not because they were 2D." - Cannastop

Reasoning: I'll admit this one made it on here (and this high) because of my personal connection to the film that goes a bit beyond the quality and merits of the movie itself. Tarzan is the first movie I remember seeing in the movie theaters, maybe I had seen something else before it but from what I know and remember it was Tarzan.  The other thing is it was a movie that my mom had a personal connection with me on, the "You'll Be in My Heart" song was my graduation song in high school as a dedication for her.  But beyond the personal aspects, that I'll leave that, I really do love the movie as a film too.  The animation is some of the best work done by Disney, and the film has an ambitious feel to it all. You can tell that the filmmakers loved the material and aspired to create something unique with it.  There is a mixture of lighthearted and fun feel, moments where it's intimate and personal, and moments of grandeur.  It's my favorite of the WDAS films.

Decade Count: 1930s: 9, 1940s: 12, 1950s: 13, 1960s: 21, 1970s: 20, 1980s: 35, 1990s: 30, 2000s: 26, 2010s: 27
Top 100 Decade Count: 1930s: 1, 1950s: 3, 1960s: 9, 1970s: 5, 1980s: 4, 1990s: 10, 2000s: 5, 2010s: 10

 

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Number 53

The Great Dictator (1940)

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"Start small. Not so fast. We get rid of the Jews first, then concentrate on the brunettes."

 

Most Valuable Player: Charlie Chaplin for Directing, Writing and Starring

Box Office: N/A

Tomatometer: 92%

Notable Awards: Nominated for 5 Oscars, including Best Picture

Synopsis: Dictator Adenoid Hynkel tries to expand his empire while a poor Jewish barber tries to avoid persecution from Hynkel's regime.

Critic Opinion: "A case of conceptual postmodern brio, the film arose from the bipolar synchronicity between two little men with toothbrush mustaches born four days apart and then simultaneously world-famous for years running. ("He's the madman, I'm the comic. But it could have been the other way around," Chaplin was quoted as saying.) The result is an unrepeatable explosion of doublings—the most renowned entertainer in the world laying his own persona down on the railroad tracks of fascist mania. It was the first film to josh about genocide, even as it was still in the planning stage. If we're a trifle inured to Nazi jokes by now, Chaplin's high-spirited mockery shouldn't be taken for granted: Production began in 1937, before even the annexation of Austria, and when it was finally released—ripping Hitler every which way and derisively airing the matters of concentration camps, mass slaughter, and "MARVelous poison gas!"—the U.S. was still neutral. As an individual political act, it marched alone in Golden Age Hollywood. (Think about how spineless Oliver Stone's W. looks by comparison.) Like all major Chaplin works, Dictator was a cheaply, but methodically, made film, a cardboard act of humanist defiance, and, thanks to its purity of purpose, the cheesier the jokes get (famously, the German language itself receives a phlegmatic hosing), the harder they land. Reportedly, Hitler banned it, then watched it alone—twice." - Atkinson, Village Voice

User Opinion: None

Reasoning: I'm a little shocked that a movie this bold managed to get made in 1940, it was back when the U.S. was still neutral in the war and when Hitler's actions against the Jews were being mostly ignored.  The film is absolutely hilarious in the way it rips Hitler a new one, but beyond that it's a bit prescient and has a timely message, not only for the time the film was made in but for today.  There's one speech in particular by the Jewish Barber that offers a blunt message that people have needed throughout history, including and most especially right now.  Charlie Chaplin is the star of this film, giving an absolutely brilliant comedic performance, but also being brash in the words from the screenplay to the way he chooses to direct the film.  It's fitting that this was Chaplin's first adventure into a "Talkie", because boy does it make use of words.  Anyways, The Great Dictator is an absolutely brilliant movie that doesn't manage to lose its effect or poignancy to this date.

Decade Count: 1930s: 9, 1940s: 13, 1950s: 13, 1960s: 21, 1970s: 20, 1980s: 35, 1990s: 30, 2000s: 26, 2010s: 27
Top 100 Decade Count: 1930s: 1, 1940s: 1, 1950s: 3, 1960s: 9, 1970s: 5, 1980s: 4, 1990s: 10, 2000s: 5, 2010s: 10

 

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Number 52

The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

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"Madness! Madness!"

 

Most Valuable Player: David Lean's Direction

Box Office: 27.2m (470.6m Adjusted)

Tomatometer: 94%

Notable Awards:  Won 7 Oscars, including Best Picture

Synopsis: After settling his differences with a Japanese PoW camp commander, a British colonel co-operates to oversee his men's construction of a railway bridge for their captors - while oblivious to a plan by the Allies to destroy it.

Critic Opinion: "Brilliant performances are to be credited to Alec Guinness, as the British colonel, who insists on sticking to the rules of the Geneva Conference governing prisoners of war, and Sessue Hayakawa as the stubborn, cruel, proud Japanese officer. Jack Hawkins and William Holden are both excellent in their roles and Geoffrey Horne and James Donald are outstanding, the latter as the camp's British medical officer and the former as a lieutenant who aids Hawkins and Holden in their difficult task of blowing up the span at the psychological moment when a trainload of Japanese soldiers are crossing the newly built bridge over the River Kwai.  The action, under Lean's superb direction, is filled with suspense, as the psychological battle between the opposing officers rages and the escape of the American officer hangs in the balance and, later, when the Intelligence operation unit arrives on the scene, prepared to blow up the bridge." - Kate Cameron, New York Daily News (1957)

User Opinion: "If Lawrence of Arabia is considered David Lean's best film then this is a close second." - DAR

Reasoning: The Bridge on the River Kwai is one of the greatest Best Picture winners of all time, even if there was another film that may have been more deserving in its year.  David Lean takes his masterful epic-making skills and brings them into World War 2, creating a long, complex and powerful war drama over the building and destruction of a bridge.  Alec Guiness is phenomenal role as a Colonel being driven into mania.  The film is technically crafted to perfection, from the cinematography, to the production design, to the iconic score that goes with it.  River Kwai is a grand show-off of David Lean's ability in film craftmanship, and it offers perplexing psychological battles and questions throughout its rather sprawling narrative.  It's a classic and you should probably know that by now.

Decade Count: 1930s: 9, 1940s: 13, 1950s: 14, 1960s: 21, 1970s: 20, 1980s: 35, 1990s: 30, 2000s: 26, 2010s: 27
Top 100 Decade Count: 1930s: 1, 1940s: 1, 1950s: 4, 1960s: 9, 1970s: 5, 1980s: 4, 1990s: 10, 2000s: 5, 2010s: 10

 

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Number 51

Fargo (1996)

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"For a little bit of money? There's more to life than a little money, you know. Don'tcha know that? And here ya are, and it's a beautiful day. Well. I just don't understand it."

 

Most Valuable Player: Joel and Ethan Coen's Direction

Box Office: 24.6m (47.7m Adjusted)

Tomatometer: 94%

Synopsis: Jerry Lundegaard's inept crime falls apart due to his and his henchmen's bungling and the persistent police work of the quite pregnant Marge Gunderson.

Critic Opinion: "Our Flick of the Week is "Fargo," the first great American movie of the year. It's another daring black comedy by one of the most consistently inventive moviemaking teams of the last decade, brothers Joel and Ethan Coen. The fans of their best work -- "Blood Simple, "Raising Arizona," "Barton Fink" -- now can add "Fargo" to the list, pushing the Coens to the first rank of contemporary American filmmakers.  In a way, "Fargo" is sort of a '90s riff on "Bonnie and Clyde." The romance of crime has faded, the killers are anything but stylish, the leading lady is pregnant, and the failed finances of a car salesman -- rather than a merciless banking system -- trigger the story. Aimlessness rules." - Gene Siskel, Chicago Tribune

User Opinion: "I'm a big fan of the second season of the show, so I decided to finally check out Fargo, one of the Coen Brothers most famous films. It was definitely worth seeing. It's underwhelming at points, until you realize just what you saw happen in a mere hour and a half. It's packed with plot, humor, and perfect performances. McDormand, Buscemi, Stormare, and Macy - all incredible. I need to see more Coen Brothers films, but in this, the direction is pitch perfect and the script is fun with a lot of great moments. Roger Deakins always delivers a beautiful film, although this is pretty unassuming with the exception of a few establishing shots, but it works. Carter Burwel's score is also pretty lovely, quiet at appropriate moments. Fargo is a very pleasant film that's hard to put into one genre, which is always a surefire way to make it memorable. Really enjoyable." - Blankments

Reasoning: Fargo stands as the best of the Coen Brothers many great films, and is proof of why they are two of the best modern directors that are working today.  Fargo includes some of the same witful humor that is present in all of their movies, only with a more sinister twist to it all.  The other spectacular thing is that it manages to make a modern crime story a lot of fun, and this is from somebody who's usually bored by crime stories unless they're done quite well.  They're the anti-Western films for me, whereas there are plenty of Westerns that are only okay movies that I enjoy greatly anyways, whereas crime films tend to need to be better than other genres to get me to like them (them along with Victorian Era period flicks).  Anyways, McDormand absolutely excels in his lead role, and the film is has pristine direction from the two brothers.  The movie feels small scale and manages to be incredibly interesting, the entire thing is simply a masterpiece by the Coen Brothers.

Decade Count: 1930s: 9, 1940s: 13, 1950s: 14, 1960s: 21, 1970s: 20, 1980s: 35, 1990s: 31, 2000s: 26, 2010s: 27
Top 100 Decade Count: 1930s: 1, 1940s: 1, 1950s: 4, 1960s: 9, 1970s: 5, 1980s: 4, 1990s: 11, 2000s: 5, 2010s: 10

 

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