Eric Quinn

#98 Ed Wood 539 points, 9 lists "This is the one. 'This' is the one I'll be remembered for." Box Office: 13.8M Rotten Tomatoes: 92% Metacritic: 70 Awards: 2 Academy Awards, 2 BAFTA Award nominations, 1 Golden Globe Award and 2 nominations, 3 Saturn Awards and 2 nominations Roger Ebert's Review: "It was widely known even at the time that Wood himself was an enthusiastic transvestite, and when Tim Burton, director of the "Batman" movies, announced a project named "Ed Wood," I assumed it would be some kind of a camp sendup, maybe a cross between "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" and "Sunset Boulevard." I assumed wrong. What Burton has made is a film which celebrates Wood more than it mocks him, and which celebrates, too, the zany spirit of 1950s exploitation films - in which a great title, a has-been star and a lurid ad campaign were enough to get bookings for some of the oddest films ever made." Its Legacy: One of Tim Burton's most beloved films ever. Brought to light and celebrated the life of Edward D. Wood Jr. after years of mockery. Criticized for its numerous inaccuracies. Competed for the Palme D'Or at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival. 5th place for 1994 from the National Board of Review. Appeared in numerous top ten lists from critics like Gene Siskel, Peter Travers, and Kevin Thomas, among others. Gave Bill Murray a paycheck. Commentary: Do you ever feel like you just suck at something? Suck so bad you’re the worst person to do something? Well, if you’re a movie director, you don’t suck as bad as Ed Wood. Known for a good while as the worst filmmaker to ever live, in no small part thanks to right-wing asshole Michael Medved, this biographical feature humanizes and contextualizes Edward Davis Wood Jr., analyzing what exactly made him such a fascinating filmmaker, even if what he made wasn’t often considered very good. There’s a lot of fun comedy here, watching director Tim Burton recreate the campiness and oddities of 50s exploitation movies and Wood himself, with Johnny Depp selling the oddities of the man quite well. Yet Burton also remembers an important aspect. That Ed Wood was a person. And he deserves better than what he was given at the time. Yes, his movies were low-budget and awkward. Yes, his ambitions were too high and his understanding on what made a good movie were misguided. Yes, he had his own eccentricities and habits that would seem strange to others. But that doesn’t matter. Ed Wood was passionate about what he loved and the work he put into the world. He had people he was close to. He was willing to keep trying, despite the world telling him no. And in some weird way, he found success, as many find Wood’s work to be wholly unique and fascinating to analyze. He won in the end. And for better or worse, there will never be another man like Ed Wood. In a way, there’s something awe-inspiring in seeing Tim Burton in particular direct this story. This is a man who loves the macabre, the odd, the surreal. A man who loves looking at underdogs, outcasts, figures who don't seem to fit in with the rest of the world. In many ways, the gothic horror and genre blending found in his features take from the B movies and exploitation features Wood created and popularized, and Wood is a prototypical Burton protagonist. It’s a director celebrating somebody who, inadvertently, inspired him and countless others. And that’s beautiful.

#99 Howl's Moving Castle 536 points, 12 lists "Here's another curse for you - may all your bacon burn." Box Office: 236M Rotten Tomatoes: 87% Metacritic: 82 Awards: 1 Academy Award nomination, 4 Tokyo Anime Awards, 1 Saturn Award nomination, 1 Nebula Award Roger Ebert's Review: "All of this is presented, as only Miyazaki can, in animation of astonishing invention and detail. The Castle itself threatens to upstage everything else that happens in the movie, and notice the way its protuberances move in time with its lumbering progress, not neglecting the sphincteresque gun turret at the rear. Sophie, old or young, never quite seems to understand and inhabit this world; unlike Kiki of the delivery service or Chihiro, the heroine of "Spirited Away," she seems more witness than heroine. A parade of weird characters comes onstage to do their turns, but the underlying plot grows murky and, amazingly for a Miyazaki film, we grow impatient at spectacle without meaning." Its Legacy: Hayao Miyazaki's favorite film. One of the highest-grossing Japanese films of all time. Earned an Osella Award at the Venice Film Festival. Appeared in the top ten lists of critics Ella Taylor, Kenneth Turan, Tasha Robinson, and Jonathan Rosenbaum, among others. Revitalized the popularity of the Diana Wynne Jones novel. Gave Lauren Bacall a paycheck. Commentary: One of the biggest critical and commercial hits in the Japanese film industry, Howl’s Moving Castle exemplifies many of the qualities that make Hayao Miyazaki such an incredible filmmaker. It’s of course visually incredible and highly creative. It’s full of charming characters, with a strong heroine protagonist in Sophie Hatter. The film features breathtaking visuals of the sky, some of that classic anti-technology and pro-environment attitude that Miyazaki puts in many of his films. Even an interesting look into old age and how oddly freeing and exciting being old can provide. Yet much of what makes Howl’s so powerful, and what I feel makes it a classic decades later, is its anti-war message. This film was made in response to the Iraq War, and Miyazaki’s vile hatred against America for invading the country. It’s a film that shows how pointless war can be, how devastating they are to people and to nature. How war itself turns people into inhuman killing machines, as seen in Howl. It’s the kind of charm and storytelling that can only come from Miyazaki, and this film was a crucial reason why the man became an icon within Japanese cinema and is seeing great success with his most recent, presumably final film.

#100 West Side Story (2021) 522 points, 12 lists "All my life, it's like I'm always just about to fall off the edge of the world's tallest building. I stopped falling the second I saw you." Box Office: 76M Rotten Tomatoes: 92% Metacritic: 85 Awards: 1 Academy Award and 6 nominations, 2 BAFTA Awards and 3 nominations, 3 Golden Globe Awards and 1 nomination, 2 National Board of Review Awards, 1 NAACP Image Award nomination, 1 Grammy Award nomination Roger Ebert's Review: N/A Its Legacy: Considered one of Spielberg's greatest films and one of the greatest musicals of all time. Kickstarted the film careers of Rachel Zegler, Ariana DeBose, and Mike Faist, among others. #5 on Collider's Top 30 Musicals. #20 on IndieWire's Best Cinematography of the 21st Century, and #50 on Top 60 Musicals. Made Steven Spielberg the most nominated director at the Academy Awards. Made Ariana DeBose the first Afro-Latina and openly LGBT women of color to win Best Supporting Actress. Gave Rita Moreno a paycheck. Commentary: As the musical genre has seen some stumbles recently, both at the box office and creatively, Steven Spielberg, the legend himself, showed people how to make them shine...at least, when it came to critics. The god of movies himself adored the original West Side Story and its music when he was a boy, which in turn led to him inspired to take the original stage show, which already had an iconic film adaptation, and give the idea his own spin. What resulted was an instant classic for the genre that immediately stood toe to toe with the Robert Wise original. This iteration of the tale was a bit grittier and more brutal compared to the more fanciful, Hays Code-hit 1961 film. Yet that didn’t make the film bad or uncomfortable to watch. Nor did it mean Spielberg skimped on the whimsy and fanciful aspects of the stage show. What we soon got was a tremendous feature that includes phenomenal visuals, gorgeous dance numbers, dynamite, emotionally stirring sequences of love, and capturing the power of this Romeo and Juliet tale. A tale of two lovers divided by the evils of society, both trapped in the slums, unable to break out. Groups who fight each other for petty reasons, ultimately to stay alive in a world that hates them. And its through these divisions that it causes loss and bloodshed for all parties. Sadly, because the box office sucks and nostalgic toy commercials are the only movies that can find success anymore, the film was an unfortunate bomb. Yet even still, we are seeing its impact on the cinema landscape. It’s already been cited as one of the greatest musicals ever made, introduced millions to the works of Stephen Sondheim, Bradley Cooper would later tell the tale of Leonard Bernstein to...well, he tried, and the young starlet cast, including Rachel Zegler, Ariana DeBose, and Mike Faist, are all rising up in Hollywood, with the potential to do incredible things in the industry. Even failures can lead to amazing things, and Speilberg’s latest masterpiece has already done just that.

Does it...have to be Legos?

Yep. It's time. After months of lists and several days of compiling and reviewing, we can now officially begin our Top 100 Disney movie countdown. There were a lot of lists that came in, each one very distinct. Though I did find it interesting how much bias there were in certain lists. You could really tell who was a cartoon nerd, a Marvel nerd, a Pixar nerd, a classic Disney nerd, even a few Miramax nerds thrown in there. It caused a lot of changes for the list, but I think we managed to have a strong top 100 that solidly represents all the amazing things about Disney in one strong package. But if you want to know some interesting statistics about our lists and what to expect... 41 lists were submitted. Just one more than the WB countdown. Some people only submitted for Warner, others only for Disney, a majority voted for both. But it's all good. In fact, this is now a record for one of my countdowns in terms of submissions, which was what I was hoping for. So good on you guys. Over the 41 lists, a whopping 522 movies got submitted. Lower than WB’s 607, but Disney’s library is quite smaller, especially their classic back catalog, so it kind of makes sense. And with 47 movies getting at least 1,000 points, the passion is there. Which I love. The entire top 11 got at least 2,000 points, which is also great. For WB, only the top 3 got above that threshold. The most represented decade, like WB, was the 2010s with a whopping 30 movies. That’s a lot. The least represented is a tie with the 1930s and 1970s, both of which had a whopping 1. Now to be fair, there was only one movie that came out in the 1930s. So uh...sorry to spoil the fact that Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs made it on the list. Not like that was a surprise. And if you know Disney history, you know the 70s were not a good time for Disney. So it’s not that egregious. But again, if we do this another time, get some culture and watch the classics. As one might expect from a Disney countdown, animation overperformed big time. Ignoring live-action/animation hybrids, a whopping 54 animated movies made the final top 100. So to all you cartoon nerds, you came out strong. I won’t say how much exactly are from which studio just yet, but it is a good blend of Disney Animation proper, Pixar, Studio Ghibli, and a few standout animated films that were from other studios. So I think there is still a good variety and diversity of animations here that will make us all happy. I’m not going into too much detail with the other subsidiaries like Lucasfilm, 20th Century, or Searchlight, though they are pretty light compared to, say, Pixar. But I did want to bring up the MCU. Because, surprise surprise, the MCU cleaned up. Of the 27 movies that were eligible, 12 of them made the top 100. So about 45% of the options available. Pretty impressive. In fact, all the MCU movies got points, with the sole exception of one. Not gonna say what, but you can connect the dots when we get to it. Ties (4 in the top 100) were broken up by which one had the least number of submissions and/or which had the better average ranking. This was done to represent the higher-ranked movies having more passionate voters compared to the other film. The honorable mentions have a few films that tied and had the same number of entries/same average ranking, so those are just complete ties. But those are the lower tier stuff you don't care about. “This movie I hate ranked higher than a movie I like? I lost all my respect for this list!” Yes, believe it or not, the general consensus of the forums will not automatically fit your tastes and sensibilities. All I ask is to please try to be respectful and courteous during the duration of this countdown, both to myself and to fellow BOT members. You don't have to agree with this, but you can act like a gentleman. "This movie doesn't count as a Disney movie because of X, Y, and Z. I lost all my respect for this list!" I got some complaints over this recently, and I just wanted to say I understand the definition is fluid. I know that there's a certain type of Disney movie that people associate with. But I wanted to make the definition broad because that meant more variety, more interest from other users, and just makes the list more interesting. If every movie on here was just stuff you see at the theme parks, it just gets kind of boring, no? So please, if something you think shouldn't be allowed for whatever reason makes the list, just...be nice. Please. If you are going to complain about something, and you didn't submit a list, just know that it's on you. Much like with government elections, you can't complain about something if you didn't vote in the first place. I’ll be alternating between revealing honorable mentions and the actual top 100. All rankings were determined by points, # of lists, and average placement. Expect the first few entries later today.

Quorum Updates Challengers T-92: 19.9% The Fall Guy T-99: 26.01% Ballerina T-134: 20.17% Horizon: An American Saga Part 1 T-155: 22.11% Kraven the Hunter T-218: 27.62% Beetlejuice 2 T-225: 47.1% Transformers One T-232: 31.28% Argylle T-8: 31.41% Awareness Final Awareness: 36% chance of 10M, 6% chance of 20M Medium Awareness: 47% chance of 10M Dune: Part Two T-36: 44.18% Awareness T-30 Awareness: 100% chance of 10M, 95% chance of 20M, 86% chance of 30M, 59% chance of 40M, 36% chance of 50M, 32% chance of 60M, 18% chance of 90M, 14% chance of 100M Tentpole Awareness: 100% chance of 40M, 60% chance of 50M, 40% chance of 60M Ghostbusters: Afterlife T-57: 41.81% Awareness T-60 Awareness: 100% chance of 30M, 78% chance of 40M, 61% chance of 50M, 50% chance of 60M, 33% chance of 70M Tentpole Awareness: 100% chance of 30M, 80% chance of 40M, 60% chance of 60M, 20% chance of 70M

Probably just a case of noticing an empty void in IMAX's release and taking advantage of a movie that hasn't been overexposed much and benefits from the format. I don't think there's any "win back Nolan" motive going on here.

I’ll see you in the beginning, friend.

We can talk about how unfair it is that Wonka didn't get any nominations. That can make us cool.

I never liked it, nor the "Not Cool" reaction from prior. Just an excuse to bully others without actually getting in trouble for it. (cue the Evans in 3...2...1...)

Um...okay?

Yep. Oppenheimer, Poor Things and American Fiction were already playing at my Regal, and they're bringing back Anatomy of a Fall, Barbie, The Holdovers, and Killers of the Flower Moon for this weekend. The latter movies though are only getting 1-2 showtimes. Oppenheimer is going from one early IMAX show to shows all throughout the day. Though Poor Things and American Fiction will probably benefit the most from the Oscar hype machine. Curious to see what happens.

This is gold. This is art. This is incredible.

Quorum Updates Bob Marley: One Love T-21: 40.69% Kung Fu Panda 4 T-44: 55.71% Love Lies Bleeding T-51: 16.6% The First Omen T-72: 25.08% Horrorscope T-107: 12.29% The Bikeriders T-149: 14.32% Deadpool 3 T-184: 57.25% Trap T-191: 12.58% See No Evil T-233: 25% Drive-Away Dolls T-30: 19.43% Awareness T-30 Awareness: 13% chance of 10M Low Awareness: 12% chance of 10M

I like you TMP. You know why? Because you and me? We're from the streets.

I wish Timothee got Oscar buzz for Wonka

Somebody on Twitter a few months ago brought up an interesting point that the typical midbudget prestige Oscar bait stuff that typically dominated the categories starting with the Weinsteins has lost a lot of prominence post-COVID. Part of it because they are typically bought up by streaming services, another part because these kinds of movies are now 6-part limited series on Peacock. The Imitation Game would have for sure been a Hulu miniseries if it was greenlit today. This basically means, apart from a Maestro or CODA here and there, the Best Picture noms are now typically either the biggest movies of the year, or weird and idiosyncratic fare from A24 and Neon. Like it's still surreal a movie like Drive My Car even got nominated.

What'd she do to you lol

Still pretty BS though. French Dispatch and Asteroid City still boast amazing below the line work in cinematography and production design and costumes. Like a stray nomination here and there would not hurt.

lmao what? I gotta hear this.

Bummer statistic to read.