BOT Top 100 Movies of All Time: The Empire Strikes Back... Again... For the Third Time...

[narniadis]

eh I am a take it or leave it person with Blade Runner - albeit its been at least 5 years since my last rewatch so I am due to see if my opinion has changed (and I have never watched the Full Cut version)

[Daxtreme]

Both Heat and Magnolia are about 3 hours long. Do they feel long? I'm trying to determine if I should watch them (my watch list is already insanely huge)

 

What movies do they hmm... feel like? So I can get a sense of something

[Dementeleus]

8 minutes ago, Daxtreme said:

Both Heat and Magnolia are about 3 hours long. Do they feel long? I'm trying to determine if I should watch them (my watch list is already insanely huge)

 

What movies do they hmm... feel like? So I can get a sense of something

 

HEAT feels like an intense procedural -- maybe something a little like TRAINING DAY -- combined with TDK (minus superheroes). There are sporadic bursts of violence and a couple big action sequences, and the rest is either cat-and-mouse or both Pacino and De Niro dealing with their private lives intruding on their professional lives.

 

edit: if you've seen COLLATERAL, it's like a bigger, more epic version. Here's the trailer, if you haven't watched it before:

 

MAGNOLIA is a quilt of multiple characters whose stories all begin to intermingle. I'd say it's like an Altman movie, but I dunno if you've seen any of those.  

[DAR]

Heat doesn't feel long at all.  Magnolia goes on forever .

[RobinHood26]

The list is turning out better than I thought. 

[The Panda]

Number 64

Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)

37 Points (13 Votes, Avg Score 35.0769)

 

"Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!"

 

Top 5 Placements: 1 Placement

Top 10 Placements: 2 Placements

Changes in Ranking Over Time: 2014 (75, +11), 2013 (59, -5), 2012 (71, +7)

Tomatometer: 97%

Box Office: N/A

Most Notable Awards Recognition: Ranked #94 on IMDb Top 250

IMDb Synopsis: History is turned on its comic head when, in 10th century England, King Arthur travels the countryside to find knights who will join him at the Round Table in Camelot. Gathering up the men is a tale in itself but after a bit of a party at Camelot, many decide to leave only to be stopped by God who sends them on a quest: to find the Holy Grail. After a series of individual adventures, the knights are reunited but must face a wizard named Tim, killer rabbits and lessons in the use of holy hand grenades. Their quest comes to an end however when the police intervene - just what you would expect in a Monty Python movie.

Critic Opinion: "That Holy Grail is so good is all the more remarkable given how bad it could have been. Made for a pittance by two men who'd never directed a feature film before, Grail also had to overcome the small matter of nominal lead Graham Chapman's raging alcoholism. But while his drinking might have effected the way the film was shot (unable to remember his lines, Chapman's takes were invariably very short), it doesn't detract from a performance that establishes him as the real actor of the group. As for the others, they all have narrow ranges, but this isn't a problem since within their respective fields, there are few better performers. John Cleese is particularly inspired as the blood-hungry Lancelot and the French guard with a unique line in insults. ("Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!")

 

This being a Python product, comedy curmudgeons will hark on about consistency. But while not everything here is 24-carat comedy gold, the fact remains that the very sketches some consider weak are the ones that make the movie for others. And whatever bum notes it might hit, Holy Grail is a film in which the word "Camelot" is rhymed with "push the pram a lot". People have been knighted for less. Just ask Tim Rice." - Richard Luck

User Opinion: "Easily one of the best comedies ever made." - CoolioD1

Personal Comment: And here comes my favorite comedy of all-time (and thus easily one of my top 5 movies of all time), Monty Python and the Holy Grail.  The Holy Grail marks the 4th movies from the 70s decade.  While this comedy may come across as a ridiculous, direct-to-video visual quality film of random vaguely connected comedy sketches lacking a coherent plot beyond getting a grail, that's exactly what makes the movie so spectacularly amazing.  The movie is an endlessly quoted and one of the biggest laugh riots ever put to screen.  Even the lowpoint sketches of this movie any other comedy would gladly take as a high-point to smear all over all of its marketing material and trailers.

 

 

 

[narniadis]

meh lol never enjoyed Monty Python - but then again not my film taste lol

[cannastop]

1 hour ago, Ethan Hunt said:

 

I told you, man.

[Empire]

Great to see Blade Runner make the list! 

 

Holy Grail not so much. Never been a fan. 

[Kvikk Lunsj]

Glad TWBB and Blade Runner beat Avengers both are vastly superior films.It is nice to see the Avengers drop.  

[The Panda]

Number 63

Singin' In the Rain (1952)

38 Points (12 Votes, Avg Score 40)

 

"Lina. She can't act, she can't sing, she can't dance. A triple threat."

 

Number 1 Placements: 1 Placement

Top 5 Placements: 2 Placements

Top 10 Placements: 3 Placements

Changes in Ranking Over Time: 2014 (Not Ranked), 2013 (Not Ranked), 2012 (Not Ranked)

Tomatometer: 100%

Box Office: N/A

Most Notable Awards Recognition: Nominated for 2 Oscars

IMDb Synopsis: 1927 Hollywood. Monumental Pictures' biggest stars, glamorous on-screen couple Lina Lamont and Don Lockwood, are also an off-screen couple if the trade papers and gossip columns are to be believed. Both perpetuate the public perception if only to please their adoring fans and bring people into the movie theaters. In reality, Don barely tolerates her, while Lina, despite thinking Don beneath her, simplemindedly believes what she sees on screen in order to bolster her own stardom and sense of self-importance. R.F. Simpson, Monumental's head, dismisses what he thinks is a flash in the pan: talking pictures. It isn't until The Jazz Singer (1927) becomes a bona fide hit which results in all the movie theaters installing sound equipment that R.F. knows Monumental, most specifically in the form of Don and Lina, have to jump on the talking picture bandwagon, despite no one at the studio knowing anything about the technology. Musician Cosmo Brown, Don's best friend, gets hired as Monumental's ideas man and musical director. And by this time, Don has secretly started dating Kathy Selden, a chorus girl who is trying to make it big in pictures herself. Don and Kathy's relationship is despite their less than friendly initial meeting. Cosmo and Kathy help Don, who had worked his way up through the movie ranks to stardom, try make the leap to talking picture stardom, with Kathy following along the way. However, they have to overcome the technological issues. But the bigger problem is Lina, who will do anything to ensure she also makes the successful leap into talking pictures, despite her own inabilities and at anyone and everyone else's expense if they get in her way, especially Kathy as Don's off screen girlfriend and possibly his new talking picture leading lady.

Critic Opinion: "One of the shining glories of the American musical, this 1952 feature was fabricated (by screenwriters Betty Comden and Adolph Green) around a collection of old songs written by producer Arthur Freed and brought to bright, brash, and exuberant life by directors Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly. The setting is Hollywood's troubled transition to sound, and there is just enough self-reflexive content (on the eternal battle between illusion and reality in the movies) to structure the film's superb selection of numbers. The tone ranges from the lyrical (the title number) to the burlesque ("Moses Supposes") to the epic ("Broadway Melody"), but through it all runs a celebration of movement as emotion." - Dave Kehr

User Opinion: "When you look up the word musical this is what you think of. This film is nothing but pure joy, it never fails to put me in a good move. So many memorable songs, the title track, Good Morning, Moses Supposes and Make Em Laugh a sequence where Donald O'Connor never fails to amaze." - DAR

Personal Comment: Singin' in the Rain is the first live action musical to make our list, and one of the few musicals to be featured on the list period.  Singin' in the Rain is also only the second film from the 1950s to make it onto our countdown.  Singin' in the Rain also greatly benefited from how the scoring greatly favored the number 1, then top 5, and top 10 picks, as it managed to make it quite far on the list, while being absent from years past.  When you think of musicals, especially for film, Singin' in the Rain is probably one of the first ones you think of.  The movie is the essence of what an American Cinematic Musical is and what it should be.

 

 

 

[cannastop]

Ooooh! Singin' in the Rain was in my top 10!

[The Panda]

Number 62

Spirited Away (2001)

38 Points (15 Votes, Avg Score 53)

 

"Once you do something, you never forget. Even if you can't remember."

 

Top 5 Placements: 1 Placement

Top 10 Placements: 2 Placements

Changes in Ranking Over Time: 2014 (68, +6), 2013 (38, -24), 2012 (64, +2)

Tomatometer: 97%

Box Office: 10.06m (14.6m Adjusted)

Most Notable Awards Recognition: Won 1 Oscar

IMDb Synopsis: Chihiro and her parents are moving to a small Japanese town in the countryside, much to Chihiro's dismay. On the way to their new home, Chihiro's father makes a wrong turn and drives down a lonely one-lane road which dead-ends in front of a tunnel. Her parents decide to stop the car and explore the area. They go through the tunnel and find an abandoned amusement park on the other side, with its own little town. When her parents see a restaurant with great-smelling food but no staff, they decide to eat and pay later. However, Chihiro refuses to eat and decides to explore the theme park a bit more. She meets a boy named Haku who tells her that Chihiro and her parents are in danger, and they must leave immediately. She runs to the restaurant and finds that her parents have turned into pigs. In addition, the theme park turns out to be a town inhabited by demons, spirits, and evil gods. At the center of the town is a bathhouse where these creatures go to relax. The owner of the bathhouse is the evil witch Yubaba, who is intent on keeping all trespassers as captive workers, including Chihiro. Chihiro must rely on Haku to save her parents in hopes of returning to their world.

Critic Opinion: "The result is nothing less than magical, a throwback to the very best of early Disney. If I can't remember the last time I was this enchanted by an animated film, it's because I was too young. "Spirited Away," which is mostly (and gorgeously) hand-drawn but has computer-generated assists throughout, tells the story of Chihiro (Chase), a 10-year-old who follows her impulsively curious parents into a seemingly abandoned theme park, where the adults scarf down food at an empty midway kiosk and turn into snorting pigs. Alone and frightened, Chihiro is taken under the wing of Haku (Jason Marsden), a mysterious boy with magical powers who explains that she's in a land where humans are not allowed, then advises her on the first step of her great escape. The through-line of the story is Chihiro's attempt to survive this strange world and grab her reconstituted parents on the way out. But the plot, which is rich and rewarding enough, is merely the vehicle that carries you over the film's roller-coaster route and through its surprise-filled funhouse. Miyazaki's kingdom comprises the carnival midway and a cathedral-size bathhouse where the spirits of the world come to replenish themselves in massive tubs of herbal waters. Lording over the baths is Yubaba (Pleshette), a squat, big-headed witch with a face that would deflate Quasimodo's hump. (In a horrible genetic twist, she has an identical twin.) If you don't like the way the characters look, stick around - most will change. While Chihiro keeps her Becky Thatcher figure throughout, Yubaba occasionally turns into an aerodynamically challenged hawk, Haku morphs into a beautiful white dragon and Yubaba's gigantic baby and her favorite watch-bird are downsized to a hummingbird and a mouse, who become Chihiro's hilarious traveling companions. The parallels to "The Wizard of Oz" are pronounced, but Chihiro's adventures may have more resonance for contemporary kids. It's all a metaphor for her dread of a new neighborhood and a new school, and in proving to herself that she has the pluck, ingenuity and determination to get the job done in fantasyland, she overcomes her fears back in the real world. Japanese animation doesn't attempt to match the fluid motion of Disney's best hand-drawn features, and the characters have none of the fine motor skills of an Aladdin or a Simba. But Miyazaki's animation is, in its detail, as rich or richer, and his imagination is something, literally, to behold. Miyazaki uses ancient Japanese superstitions about ubiquitous spirits as his inspiration, and some of the spirits are ghosts behind kabuki masks. But this version of "Spirited Away" has no cultural speed bumps for anyone, and its themes about love and self-esteem are universal. At just over two hours, "Spirited Away" is an epic among children's animated movies, but it flies by, thanks both to Miyazaki's endless inventiveness and his unerring feel for his heroine. Chihiro may be harder to pronounce than Dorothy or Alice, but she deserves her place alongside them as a literary star." - Jack Matthews

User Opinion: "The most magical film ever made." - Noctis (Surprise, he thinks it's more magical than Harry Potter )

Personal Comment: Spirited Away is the third animated film to make our countdown, and it's also the only one not to come out of a studio named Disney or Pixar (although it technically was distributed in the US by Disney).  It is also the 7th film on our countdown to come from the 2000s decade and it's also one of the few foreign films to make the cut.  Spirited Away is a magical animated trip filled with heart and thought.  The movie follows suit of much of Japanese anime in being a more mature film, even if it's still accessible to a younger audience, with more mature themes at its heart (despite the mysticism throughout the movie).  Watch the movie and let it transport you into its wondrous mythos.

 

 

Edited May 19, 2016 by The Panda

[cannastop]

Spirited Away is another one of my top 10. Is there a trend here? 

 

BTW, what is that emoticon even for?

Edited May 19, 2016 by cannastop

[The Panda]

That's it for tonight.  I'll try to squeeze in another 7-10 films tomorrow.

[Tower]

Spirited Away is the first of three animations to make my list, I hope the other 2 also make it as I don't know how many are left and those aren't the most obvious Pixar ones to make it.

[Tower]

The list so far:

position	film	year
100	The Big Lebowski	1998
99	No Country For Old Men	2007
98	Magnolia	1999
97	Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 2	2011
96	Captain America: Winters Soldier	2014
95	Ghostbusters	1984
94	Do The Right Thing	1989
93	Her	2013
92	Captain America: Civil War	2016
91	Raging Bull	1980
90	Chinatown	1974
89	The Shining	1980
88	The Wolf of Wall Street	2013
87	North By Northwest	1959
86	Spider-Man 2	2004
85	Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban	2004
84	Aladdin	1992
83	Saving Private Ryan	1998
82	One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest	1975
81	The Terminator	1984
80	Whiplash	2014
79	Aliens	1986
78	Psycho	1960
77	Heat	1995
76	Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade	1989
75	Memento	2000
74	Once Upon a Time in the West	1968
73	Boyhood	2014
72	Dr. Strangelove	1964
71	Guardians of the Galaxy	2014
70	It's a Wonderful Life	1946
69	Rocky	1975
68	Avengers	2012
67	Up	2009
66	There Will Be Blood	2007
65	Blade Runner	1982
64	Monty Python and the Holy Grail	1975
63	Singin' in the Rain	1952
62	Spirited Away	2001

[DAR]

While I recognize there's a good story in Spirited Away, I just wish anime held more appeal for me.

[cannastop]

3 minutes ago, DAR said:

While I recognize there's a good story in Spirited Away, I just wish anime held more appeal for me.

Can you not get past the typical anime character design?

[Truckasaurus]

Those last four entries 

 

Blade Runner is the first movie from my Top 5 to make the list (hopefully not the last). Monthy Python and the Holy Grail is their best work, and a staple of absurdist comedy. I'm not a fan of the musical genre at all, but Singin' in the Rain is bliss - it's what every musical aspires (or at least should aspire) to be and it's why that genre still gets a pass to this day, even after so few of them since have come at least a little close to its heights. And Spirited Away is Miyazaki. Nuff' said.