BOT's Top 100 Movies of All Time - Hindsight is 2020 Edition

[Cap]

Okay. I see how this is working. #200-100 are the REAL list, and @The Panda is just the greatest joker of all time. 
 

Spoiler

That said, mad props to Panda for the aesthetics of the list  I love love black banners and write ups!

 

[Dementeleus]

Fuck INTERSTELLAR right in its fifth dimensional black hole of love. 

[Eric the Minion]

39 minutes ago, Plain Old Tele said:

Fuck INTERSTELLAR right in its fifth dimensional black hole of love. 

[The Panda]

 

 

"I don't - - Hey Joe, get me a tarantula."

 

About the Movie

 

Synopsis

 

"Taking place during the rise of the "talkies", we meet Don Lockwood and Lina Lamont who have risen to stardom during the silent-film era of Hollywood. Beautiful, charismatic and influential, the two combine to make a great on-screen pair. The introduction of talking pictures poses a threat to the powerful duo, however, when it is discovered by audiences that Lina has an excruciatingly shrill voice. Enter young studio singer Kathy Selden, a woman who lacks the stardom of Ms. Lamont but possesses the beautiful voice of which Lina is in dire need. Can Don and Lina find a solution to Lina's laughably annoying voice to salvage their careers?" - IMDb 

 

Its Legacy

 

"From the start of Singin’ in the Rain, the so-called glamour of Hollywood is
highlighted. Opening with the view of Grauman’s Chinese Theater, famous for movie
stars’ hand and foot prints being ever immortalized in cement, the film depicts
Hollywood Boulevard lit up with spotlights, cars, and a giant sign announcing the
premier of a movie called The Royal Rascal. The names Lockwood and Lamont can be
seen in large letters above the film’s title, giving the audience an indication of who is 

most important in the scene to come. A news reporter, Dora Bailey, announces the stars
as their cars pull up in front of the theater. From the pretty flapper girl on the arm of a
so-called “forever bachelor” to the exotic Olga and the Baron, “married two months
already but still happy as newlyweds,” the stereotypes of Hollywood actors and
actresses are showcased. Not only is this scene a commentary on the importance of
those who earn the studios big money, but it also reveals the criteria to become one of
those big moneymakers. From the parade of Hollywood’s most famous people, we see
how the film industry appeals to the audience’s desire for scandal (the flapper girl and
the forever bachelor) and the exoticized Other (the foreigners Olga and the Baron). The
scene also represents the “typical Hollywood movie premier,” with its searchlights in the
sky to crowds of adoring fans screaming for attention from the Hollywood celebrities.
When Lockwood and Lamont finally appear, the audience is dazzled with the
story of Lockwood’s rise to fame. But Lockwood’s story, full of “dignity, always dignity,”
is anything but dignifying. While Lockwood claims to have gone to the finest dance and
music schools, those watching the film see clips of Lockwood and his best friend,
Cosmo Brown, singing in bars as kids and performing in county fairs. This whole
sequence significantly connects Lockwood’s upbringing with the façade of Hollywood
glamour, as the film parodies the movie industry’s reliance on illusions and its ability to
sell those illusions. Lockwood understands the importance of maintaining that façade in
order to succeed in the Hollywood spotlight.

Not only does the movie start with the Hollywood façade but it revolves around
another pretense: silence and sound. When R.F. Simpson, executive producer for
Monumental Pictures, first shows the Vitaphone to his guests at the after-party for The
Royal Rascal, it is mocked. Simpson declares that he has something to show everyone
“that’ll give you a lot of laughs.” Reactions to this talkie demonstration range from “it’s
just a toy” to “it’s a scream” to “it’s vulgar.” When asked if he thinks if it will be a hit,
Simpson responds with “I doubt it.” The film satirizes the characters’ narrow vision, while
also pointing out that the younger generation is more receptive to change than the

naysaying older generation. However, the audience learns that Warner Brothers has just
bought the rights and is making the first talking picture, The Jazz Singer. In actuality, 

The Jazz Singer is a real film that was introduced to the world in 1927. Basing Singin’ in
the Rain on the historical change represented by The Jazz Singer, Kelly and Donen
wanted to be authentic to the time while also showing the impact talkies had,
demonstrating how this new technology transformed motion pictures. While some
resisted the idea, there were others who thought it “a scream.” In addition, with this new
technology, an increasing number of smaller studios could produce movies, as long as
they had the right equipment. The popularity of talkies drove the industry into a new era."

- Kimberly Lewis

 

From the Filmmaker

 

 

 

Why It's the Greatest

 

Critic Opinion

 

"Is Singin' In The Rain the greatest musical of all time? The AFI would have us believe so, but I would place another film higher (spoiler alert: it's The Wizard Of Oz), if only because Gene Kelly's magnum opus has one song too many (more on this later).  Singin' In The Rain is almost perfect. Aside from featuring a handful of the greatest song-and-dance routines in Hollywood history, it's also a clever satire of the film industry, as well as being a jovial comedy and a charming love letter to cinema's ungainly transition from silent to sound.

 

Kelly is only one part of a triple threat of triple threats that ensure the film isn't merely humming in the drizzle. Donald O'Connor's Make 'Em Dance routine is a masterpiece and his classic vaudeville gags are classics for a reason (sample: "Cosmo, call me a cab"... "Ok, you're a cab"). Debbie Reynolds, who was half Kelly's age when she played his lover, does a fantastic job in Good Morning despite not being a trained dancer (Fred Astaire helped her prepare), but she also brings piles of charm and verve to the film.  But the secret weapon of Singin' In The Rain is Jean Hagen. Her Oscar-nominated turn is great comedy acting from an under-rated actor. The broad nasal Noo Yawk accent is not her real voice and never wavers, and her comic timing is impeccable. She even manages to make Lina Lamont pitiable, despite her being the villain of the piece. We never truly despise Lina, probably because she's too unwittingly hilarious and daffy.

 

You could cynically suggest that Hollywood loves Hollywood, which is possibly part of why Singin' In The Rain has endured. But realistically it represents a highwater mark in the dance-driven musical. It nostalgically champions the music and movies that came before it, but also dares to push the art form to new heights. Its three best songs (all of which appear on this AFI list) are three of the best song-and-dance sequences ever committed to film, but more than that, it's a sharp satire and wonderfully warm and funny comedy. No other film can brag of being all these things, making Singin' In The Rain a real one-of-a-kind experience."

- Matt Neal, ABC Radio

 

User Opinion

 

"Even more amazing that (the brilliant & sexy) Gene Kelly had been ill for days and the day of filming the Singing In The Rain number had a 103°F fever and spent all day soaked and getting sicker.

 

The movie is pure joy.  One of my all time favorites.

 

No. No. No. Yes. Yes. Yes." - @TalismanRing

 

The Panda's Haiku

 

Singin in the Rain

 

Yes, I'm Singin' in the Rain

 

No, not the sunshine

 

 

Factoids

 

Placement on Prior Lists

 

2012 - Unranked, 2013 - Unranked, 2014 - Unranked, 2016 - 63, 2018 - 93

 

Director Count

 

Alfred Hitchock - 4, Stanley Kubrick - 4, John Lasseter - 2, Richard Linklater - 3, The Russo Brothers - 3, Lee Unkrich - 3, Alfonso Cuaron - 2,  David Fincher - 2, Akira Kurosawa - 2, John McTiernan - 2, Steven Spielberg - 2, Andrew Stanton - 2, Roger Allers - 1, John G. Avildsen - 1, Brad Bird - 1, Ash Brannon - 1, Mel Brooks - 1, Frank Capra - 1, James Cameron - 1, John Carpenter - 1, Damien Chazelle - 1, Ron Clements - 1, Stanley Donen - 1, Clint Eastwood - 1,Terry Gilliam - 1, Michel Gondry - 1, Rian Johnson - 1, Terry Jones - 1, Gene Kelly - 1, David Lean - 1, Sergio Leone - 1, David Lynch - 1, Katia Lund - 1,Fernando Meirelles - 1, Rob Minkoff - 1, Hayao Miyazaki - 1, Adrian Molina - 1, John Musker - 1, Christopher Nolan - 1, Bob Persichetti - 1, Jan Pinkava - 1, Sam Raimi - 1, Peter Ramsey - 1, Rodney Rotham - 1,   Martin Scorsese - 1, Quentin Tarantino - 1, Guillermo del Toro - 1, Gary Trousdale - 1, Orson Welles - 1, Peter Weir - 1, Billy Wilder - 1, Kirk Wise - 1, Kar-Wai Wong - 1, Robert Zemeckis - 1

 

Franchise Count

 

Pixar - 7, Marvel Cinematic Universe - 3, Toy Story - 3, WDAS - 3, Before Trilogy - 2, Spider-Man - 2,  Cameron - 1, Die Hard - 1, Indiana Jones - 1, Monty Python - 1, Nolan - 1, Predator - 1, Rocky - 1, Scorsese -1, Star Wars - 1, Studio Ghibli - 1, Terminator - 1

 

Decade Count

 

1940s - 2, 1950s - 6, 1960s - 5, 1970s - 4, 1980s - 8, 1990s - 10, 2000s - 13, 2010s - 12

 

 

Edited July 21, 2020 by The Panda

[The Panda]

 

 

"You see, in this world there's two kinds of people, my friend: Those with loaded guns and those who dig. You dig."

 

About the Movie

 

Synopsis

 

"During the American Civil War, three men set off to find two hundred thousand dollars in buried gold coins. Tuco (Eli Wallach) and Blondie (Clint Eastwood) have known each other for some time now having used the reward on Tuco's head as a way of earning money. They come across a dying man, Bill Carson (Antonio Casale), who tells them of a treasure in gold coins. By chance, he tells Tuco the name of the cemetery and tells Blondie the name of the grave where the gold is buried. Now rivals, the two men have good reason to keep each other alive. The third man, Angel Eyes (Lee Van Cleef), hears of the gold stash from someone he's been hired to kill. All he knows is to look for for someone named Bill Carson. The three ultimately meet in a showdown that takes place amidst a major battle between Confederate and Union forces."

 

Its Legacy

 

"Three whiskered, weather-beaten men stand facing each other, alone in a huge cemetery. They exchange suspicious glances and remain almost perfectly still, not saying a word. The stare-off continues for two and a half minutes.  Not exactly the stuff of interesting cinema, is it?  Actually it's one of the most riveting and acclaimed feature film sequences of all time: the climactic showdown at the end of Sergio Leone's The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.  The legacy of the legendary Italian filmmaker was etched in the spaghetti western, a sub-genre of films produced in the 1960s and ‘70s inspired by Hollywood cowboys-and-Indians pictures. They were made by risk-taking European directors working with much smaller budgets, and so the movement became defined by a gutsy spirit of innovation.  No spaghetti western is as famous, and few as highly regarded, as Leone’s 1966 epic about a trio of tough-as-nails vagabonds on the hunt for a missing fortune. His classic sun-baked amorality play has surfaced on countless ‘best of’ lists over the years; the groundbreaking storytelling techniques in the film have been used, taught, stolen and referenced by film-makers from all over the world.

 

The famous face-off between the three men , known as the ‘trio’ scene, is regarded as one of the best examples of editing in cinema history. The impact of this hyper-stylised moment goes to the heart of why The Good, The Bad and the Ugly resonates so strongly half a century since its initial release: it is not about what happens, but how it unfolds.  There are signs from the very start it will be a work of visual bravado. The film starts with a long, wide shot of a jagged, infertile valley and mountainside.  But it lasts for only a couple of seconds – Leone uses it as an opportunity for visual sleight of hand. A cowboy’s stubbly face suddenly swings into the frame, so close we can literally see up his nostrils. An extreme long-shot has therefore transformed into an extreme close-up, without the image cutting or moving.

 

As important to as the editing The score which accompanies the film is regarded as one of the best in cinema. Created by Italian maestro Ennio Morricone, the composition was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2009. A book has been written about the instantly recognisable theme music, which ranks among cinema’s best known – up there with Jaws’s ominous two-note ostinato and the Imperial March from Star Wars.

 

But the crowning visual moment is the trio scene, a bravura cinematic moment in which the titular characters (played by Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef and Eli Wallach) face each other down on an oval-shaped cement patch in a Civil War cemetery. To understand the importance of this scene, first it helps to know a bit about the basic technical elements of film-making.  The most fundamental principle of editing – known as cutting for continuity – is generally used to contract time. In this way the moment-by-moment minutiae of real life can be eradicated. A shot of a person beginning to walk up a flight of stairs, for example, cuts to that same person emerging at the top, the unexciting observation of them climbing removed from the drama.  The trio scene instead relishes in non-activity, essentially telling a story where there is none. The characters' wordless confrontation is bookended by a master shot depicting the bandits positioned in triangular arrangement, with graves and headstones in front and behind them.

 

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’s effect can still be felt in films released today. No filmmaker has worn their appreciation of the film with as much rootin’-tootin’ heart-on-sleeve zeal as Quentin Tarantino, who describes it as the greatest achievement in the history of cinema. An avid believer in the dictum that great artists steal, Tarantino’s love of the film can be seen strewn throughout his work. In fact, for his recent mystery-western The Hateful Eight, Tarantino hired Morricone (who is now aged 87) to create the soundtrack.'  Tarantino’s homages to The Good, the Bad and the Ugly make their way into the majority of his films in one form or another. Probably most conspicuous is the waiting-to-blink Mexican standoff at the conclusion of 1992’s heist drama Reservoir Dogs. The scene depicts three armed bandits (played by Lawrence Tierney, Harvey Keitel and Chris Penn) pointing guns at each other, waiting for each other to strike. It is a dead ringer – down to the triangular arrangement of the characters – for the roaring climax to Leone’s gritty masterpiece."

- Luke Buckmaster, The BBC

 

From the Filmmaker

 

 

 

Why It's the Greatest

 

Critic Opinion

 

"We do not, however, talk about those films as merely the ones where Clint wore a serape and had no given name. We talk about them instead as near-legendary works of mythmaking, two legs of a trilogy that changed everything that a Western could be or do. And not to take anything away from the Dollars pair, because I have a great deal of fondness for them both, but most of that legend comes from the reflected glory of Eastwood's third go before Leone's camera, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. It's with this film, by far the most ambitious Italian Western made to that date (nearly three hours long and with a wildly high, by the industry standards, $1.3 million budget) that Leone secured his place as a pantheon director, and did all of those things he remains beloved for: using the CinemaScope frame to create a unique vision of the American West as place of desolation and ruin on a truly epic scale. It is, in many ways, the culmination of his art - while I privately prefer his next film, Once Upon a Time in the West, it's easy to argue that the later film simply builds upon the aesthetic space Leone created with the final film in what history has come to call the Dollars Trilogy.

 

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is certainly not a movie driven by the mere contents of the plot, however, but by the world in which that plot unfolds. It is a war-ravaged Southwestern landscape in which there is only death, all around. A lot of the movie is dedicated solely to scenes exploring the places and people: a protracted sequence in a Catholic mission filled to the rafters with wounded soldiers from both sides, a lengthy visit with a drunk Union captain (Aldo Giuffrè) whose cynically humanist view of warfare confirms what is already easy to tell, that the extreme (by 1966 standards) violence and devastation on display is presented for our horrified disgust, not our entertainment. The film surely does depict a vision of the West that is mythical and epic and all that - but it also makes it clear that the myth is rotten to its very core. Only in a horribly dysfunctional world could a man as selfish and casually nihilistic as Blondie deserve the title "the Good", after all.  Even more than it is brutal and hard and nihilistic, the film is primarily a sensualist Western. "Sensualist" meant in a special way, of course, which is that Leone and cinematographer Tonino Delli Colli put so much effort into capturing the physical essence of the landscape they're shooting that watching the film is very nearly a physical experience itself. The scene in which Tuco torments Blondie out in the desert is a great example of the tactility of the whole feature: we are aware, to a dreadfully uncomfortable degree, of the brightness of the sun, the dryness of the sand, the sweat on the faces, and the crackly texture of the not-entirely-convincing sunburn makeup Eastwood wears, as revealed in the trademark Leone close-ups.

 

There is no defense against the claim, frequent in the '60s and still likely to crop up sometimes here and there, that the movie is nasty and cruel and violent - it is all of those things. There is as mixture of fascination and disgust regarding the evil men do found in every scene of the film that is too harrowing and at times too borderline-exploitative to ever say, with a straight face, that it's nice, or morally uplifting (which is not the same as calling it immoral: it is, at any rate, fairly outraged at the excessive violence it portrays, and cannot be held accountable for those viewers who don't get the joke). Even the overwhelming operatic scope of its narrative and aesthetic are, ultimately, brutal: the audience leaves feeling worn out and battered; happy for it, maybe, but battered. But that's the thing about legends and myths, they reveal our darkest nature as well was - better than! - they reveal our best selves. And in this film, Leone managed to turn that darkness into visual and aural poetry of the most electrifying sort."

- Tim Brayton, Alternate Ending

 

User Opinion

 

"Here is a film that is surrounded by so much damn hyperbole that it's hard to know exactly where to begin.  Three outlaws embark on a journey all in the name of finding, and thereafter acquiring some damn gold.  Naturally, each man is privy to sensitive information, and in that course concessions, alliances, and other general negotiations are made.  Let the searching begin, plain and simple.

 

This is a true epic in every sense of the word.  The world is vibrant, the characters are larger than life, and the score is of course brilliant.  As a viewer you are privy to a scorching journey through the desert, a digression featuring a Civil War battle, and of course all this ultimately culminates in a three-way showdown.  It's the stuff of legends, as is every offering tied to the Man with No Name trilogy.    For the most part this film features everything found in the first two films, amplified up a few notches.  The stakes have never been higher, the terrain is more precarious, the characters are more ruthless, and the violence is more visceral.  As is typically the case in a Sergio Leone offering, the music is in many ways the driving force of the entire film.  So many damn scenes attain power merely from a great shot of scenery coupled with some killer tunes.  A man's man's film, plain and simple."

- @mattmav45

 

The Panda's Haiku

 

Look him in the eye

 

Aim no higher, summon all

 

The courage you- *BOOM*

 

 

Factoids

 

Placement on Prior Lists

 

2012 - 69, 2013 - 40, 2014 - 28, 2016 - 23, 2018 - 27

 

Director Count

 

Alfred Hitchock - 4, Stanley Kubrick - 4, John Lasseter - 2, Richard Linklater - 3, The Russo Brothers - 3, Lee Unkrich - 3, Alfonso Cuaron - 2,  David Fincher - 2, Akira Kurosawa - 2, Sergio Leone - 2, John McTiernan - 2, Steven Spielberg - 2, Andrew Stanton - 2, Roger Allers - 1, John G. Avildsen - 1, Brad Bird - 1, Ash Brannon - 1, Mel Brooks - 1, Frank Capra - 1, James Cameron - 1, John Carpenter - 1, Damien Chazelle - 1, Ron Clements - 1, Stanley Donen - 1, Clint Eastwood - 1,Terry Gilliam - 1, Michel Gondry - 1, Rian Johnson - 1, Terry Jones - 1, Gene Kelly - 1, David Lean - 1, David Lynch - 1, Katia Lund - 1,Fernando Meirelles - 1, Rob Minkoff - 1, Hayao Miyazaki - 1, Adrian Molina - 1, John Musker - 1, Christopher Nolan - 1, Bob Persichetti - 1, Jan Pinkava - 1, Sam Raimi - 1, Peter Ramsey - 1, Rodney Rotham - 1,   Martin Scorsese - 1, Quentin Tarantino - 1, Guillermo del Toro - 1, Gary Trousdale - 1, Orson Welles - 1, Peter Weir - 1, Billy Wilder - 1, Kirk Wise - 1, Kar-Wai Wong - 1, Robert Zemeckis - 1

 

Franchise Count

 

Pixar - 7, Marvel Cinematic Universe - 3, Toy Story - 3, WDAS - 3, Before Trilogy - 2, Spider-Man - 2,  Cameron - 1, Die Hard - 1, Indiana Jones - 1, Monty Python - 1, Nolan - 1, Predator - 1, Rocky - 1, Scorsese -1, Star Wars - 1, Studio Ghibli - 1, Terminator - 1

 

Decade Count

 

1940s - 2, 1950s - 6, 1960s - 6, 1970s - 4, 1980s - 8, 1990s - 10, 2000s - 13, 2010s - 12

 

 

 

Edited July 21, 2020 by The Panda

[The Panda]

Miyazaki has defeated every WDAS, no WDAS film has ranked above Mononoke (spoilers, I guess, lol)

 

 

 

"Cut off a wolf's head and it still has the power to bite."

 

About the Movie

 

Synopsis

 

"While protecting his village from rampaging boar-god/demon, a confident young warrior, Ashitaka, is stricken by a deadly curse. To save his life, he must journey to the forests of the west. Once there, he's embroiled in a fierce campaign that humans were waging on the forest. The ambitious Lady Eboshi and her loyal clan use their guns against the gods of the forest and a brave young woman, Princess Mononoke, who was raised by a wolf-god. Ashitaka sees the good in both sides and tries to stem the flood of blood. This is met by animosity by both sides as they each see him as supporting the enemy."

 

Its Legacy

 

"Ranking the films of animation maestro Hayao Miyazaki is a fiendishly tricky task. The Studio Ghibli co-founder, often reductively described as the Walt Disney of Japan, is responsible for some of the medium’s most towering accomplishments, from the bracing dystopian sci-fi of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984) to the beguiling, dream-logic fantasy of Spirited Away (2001).  Then, of course, there’s Princess Mononoke (1997), Miyazaki’s international breakthrough hit, which might well be the pick of the bunch.  Inspired by the Muromachi period (c.1336 to c.1573), which saw the introduction of firearms to feudal Japan, the film elegantly evokes a simple natural world where animal gods and tree spirits roam the earth, though they are fast becoming threatened by the technological advances and self-serving ruthlessness of humanity.

 

While Ghibli’s work has captivated Japanese audiences since the 1980s, it was Princess Mononoke that really put Miyazaki on the map in the west. A record-breaking domestic theatrical run caught the attention of super-producer Harvey Weinstein, who threw his considerable weight behind the film’s US release. Fantasy writer extraordinaire Neil Gaiman was enlisted to fine-tune the translated script, and an all-star English voice cast was assembled, including Claire Danes, Billy Bob Thornton, Minnie Driver and Gillian Anderson.  The initial international box office haul was a little underwhelming, but rave reviews and glowing word of mouth eventually led to impressive home entertainment receipts. Crucially, the Ghibli team ensured that western audiences were treated to as pure and unfiltered an experience as possible. Aware of Weinstein’s reputation for butchering his acquisitions beyond recognition – a habit that earned him the nickname ‘Harvey Scissorhands’ – Miyazaki’s producer reportedly mailed the Miramax head a samurai sword accompanied by a note that read, simply, “no cuts”.

 

Princess Mononoke refuses to conform to the simplistic, black-and-white view of human nature that characterises most mainstream animation. Eboshi might be the chief antagonist, but she’s as far from a two-dimensional Disney villain as you can imagine. On the one hand she’s a ruthless leader, happy to obliterate anyone or anything that might impede her march towards power. But on the other she’s a pioneering proto-feminist who has fashioned her town into a safe haven for lepers and other social outcasts.  By the same token, the way in which San’s hatred of Eboshi boils over into a blanket contempt for humanity is clearly a sizeable character flaw. Miyazaki refrains from passing overt judgement on his characters, deftly building to a climactic showdown in which there are no clear-cut heroes or villains.

 

In recent years, Disney has begun to question the notion that all a princess needs is the unwavering affection of a besotted suitor, most notably and successfully in Frozen (2013). But Miyazaki was way ahead of the curve in this regard, and is here reluctant to propagate the myth that true love conquers all.  Although San and Ashitaka form a deep bond over the course of their time together, at no point is the couple assured of living happily ever after. Rather than filling the heads of younger viewers with unrealistic ideas about the transcendental bliss of long-term monogamy, Princess Mononoke instead imparts a useful lesson about the value of caution and compromise. It’s all the more genuinely romantic for it.

 

The late, great Roger Ebert once provocatively declared that “video games can never be art”, but this is becoming an increasingly difficult position to maintain, with developers eager to push the medium in more aesthetically adventurous and thought-provoking directions.  A number of titles frequently cited to support the notion of games-as-art are heavily inspired by Miyazaki. Exquisitely beautiful 2D adventures like Child of Light (2014) and Ori and the Blind Forest (2015) wear their love of Ghibli on their sleeves, both in terms of their lush, painterly art styles and their melancholic, contemplative narratives.  And with each passing instalment, Nintendo’s Legend of Zelda series seems increasingly indebted to Princess Mononoke in particular. This year’s masterly Breath of the Wild thrusts the player into a stylised bucolic idyll awash with forest spirits and dangerous wild animals, in which ancient technology is pitted against an encroaching primal evil. Exploring its vast, ravishing world is an experience that will delight anyone who’s ever wished they could jump into the frame of a Miyazaki movie."

- Paul O'Callaghan, The British Film Institute

 

From the Filmmaker

 

 

 

Why It's the Greatest

 

Critic Opinion

 

"True artistry in feature animation is so rare these days, because something usually gets sacrificed in the process. If lots of effort is expended in visual magic, the plot may suffer. Intricate stories may demand that the visuals take a back seat.  That's why Hayao Miyazaki's anime masterpiece "Princess Mononoke," Japan's most successful film, is such a treat. Beautifully constructed and painstakingly written, this is about as close to a perfect animated epic as you're likely to get.  Miyazaki is called the Walt Disney of Japanese animation, but with "Mononoke" he leaves the mouse in the dust. Mononoke wears wolf skins; no crinoline and lace here. Upon first meeting her prince, she tries to knife him. Her nemesis, Lady Eboshi, isn't even a true villain. (And there's no sugary soundtrack, thank God.)   All this makes "Mononoke" one of the most human works of animation to grace the screen. Plus, a star-spangled English dub and terrific translation by comic-book genius Neil Gaiman smooths the transition to American theaters.  But "Mononoke" isn't a kiddie treat. A gory scene of a village massacre by samurai is early evidence of that.

 

Labeling "Princess Mononoke" an eco-fable is too simplistic; it's a tale of clashing wills. "Mononoke's" interest lies in the fact that the battle between right and wrong isn't clear-cut. Miyazaki nobly resists the urge to force any resolutions.  Making "Mononoke" had long been a dream of Miyazaki's, and that's apparent in the visuals. This is a film that begs for a big screen - Miayzaki's sweeping landscapes and wide shots of action sequences leave you breathless. The director personally did the final edit on every one of tens of thousands of animation cels. Not surprisingly, he said that "Mononoke" would be the last film he directs - yet another reason to see this ravishing piece of art while it's still in theaters."

- Melanie McFarland, The Seattle Times

 

User Opinion

 

"I think this is my favorite Miyazaki film. Spirited Away was too random and meandering for my tastes but here the flights of fancy are all in service of a thoroughly engaging meditation on the human/wilderness relationship, combining the classic Hollywood "hero's journey" narrative with the more intimate, meditative tone of the director's work." - @tribefan695

 

The Panda's Haiku

 

Corrupted by demons

 

But maybe the real demon

 

Is what divides, burns

 

 

Factoids

 

Placement on Prior Lists

 

2012 - Unranked, 2013 - Unranked, 2014 - Unranked, 2016 - Unranked, 2018 - 41

 

Director Count

 

Alfred Hitchock - 4, Stanley Kubrick - 4, Richard Linklater - 3, The Russo Brothers - 3, Lee Unkrich - 3, Alfonso Cuaron - 2,  David Fincher - 2, Akira Kurosawa - 2, John Lasseter - 2,  Sergio Leone - 2, John McTiernan - 2, Hayao Miyazaki - 2, Steven Spielberg - 2, Andrew Stanton - 2, Roger Allers - 1, John G. Avildsen - 1, Brad Bird - 1, Ash Brannon - 1, Mel Brooks - 1, Frank Capra - 1, James Cameron - 1, John Carpenter - 1, Damien Chazelle - 1, Ron Clements - 1, Stanley Donen - 1, Clint Eastwood - 1,Terry Gilliam - 1, Michel Gondry - 1, Rian Johnson - 1, Terry Jones - 1, Gene Kelly - 1, David Lean - 1, David Lynch - 1, Katia Lund - 1,Fernando Meirelles - 1, Rob Minkoff - 1, Adrian Molina - 1, John Musker - 1, Christopher Nolan - 1, Bob Persichetti - 1, Jan Pinkava - 1, Sam Raimi - 1, Peter Ramsey - 1, Rodney Rotham - 1,   Martin Scorsese - 1, Quentin Tarantino - 1, Guillermo del Toro - 1, Gary Trousdale - 1, Orson Welles - 1, Peter Weir - 1, Billy Wilder - 1, Kirk Wise - 1, Kar-Wai Wong - 1, Robert Zemeckis - 1

 

Franchise Count

 

Pixar - 7, Marvel Cinematic Universe - 3, Toy Story - 3, WDAS - 3, Before Trilogy - 2, Spider-Man - 2,  Studio Ghibli - 2, Cameron - 1, Die Hard - 1, Indiana Jones - 1, Monty Python - 1, Nolan - 1, Predator - 1, Rocky - 1, Scorsese -1, Star Wars - 1, Terminator - 1

 

Decade Count

 

1940s - 2, 1950s - 6, 1960s - 6, 1970s - 4, 1980s - 8, 1990s - 11, 2000s - 13, 2010s - 12

 

 

 

Edited July 21, 2020 by The Panda

[The Panda]

 

 

"I love the smell of napalm in the morning."

 

About the Movie

 

Synopsis

 

"In 1969, at the height of the Vietnam War, Captain Benjamin Willard is resting in his hotel room, waiting for a mission to be given to him by the United States Army. A mission that no one else has ever been given before. The mission is to travel upriver to assassinate a colonel, who's gone AWOL and acts like a demi-god to a group of tribal natives in the jungle. Taking the mission for what it is, Willard travels upriver along with a ragtag group of American soldiers, some of which are called by their nicknames. Along the way, several obstacles get in their way of the mission including a deadly encounter with a tiger and heavy enemy fire at a strategic bridge. As Willard nears the end of his mission, he soon finds himself reeling in the horrors and sanity of war itself as he confronts the colonel face to face in which Willard's true nature begins to emerge slowly."

 

Its Legacy

 

"Not unlike Star Wars, which was made by almost Apocalypse Now helmer George Lucas, the Vietnam War-set odyssey is a mashup of influences — including its core basis in Joseph Conrad’s The Heart of Darkness, plus the poetry of T.S. Eliot, James George Frazer’s The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion, Werner Herzog’s Aguirre: The Wrath of God — yet is also itself one of the most influential movies of all time.  Not only did it help shape the depiction of the Vietnam War in cinema, despite not really dealing with much of the main conflict and despite being barely sourced in authenticity, but on its own terms, Apocalypse Now is a masterpiece of drama and iconography. And its legacy stems primarily from the latter, all its perfect shots (DP Vittorio Storaro won the Oscar for his cinematography) and set pieces and quotable dialogue, as a movie that presents war as both awful and awesome, a Hell for humanity but heaven for cinephiles.

 

There are few movies that have become so iconic as Apocalypse Now that certain scenes and lines of dialogue have just become common in the cinematic lexicon. That is to say, so many movies and TV shows and other works of art just copy moments, sometimes not even with any alteration, as something beyond and outside of typical homage or parody. For instance, having bats (Rango) or flies (The Smurfs) or ghosts (Casper) or toys (Small Soldiers) attack from the sky to the tune of Richard Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries,” that’s a fun tribute to Coppola’s movie, even if done silly and as a minor spoof.  But there are countless movies and shows in which the opera piece is used as the soundtrack for actual helicopters in a formation as if it’s an obligatory trope. Sometimes it’s because the characters within the story are diegetically referencing Apocalypse Now themselves, but often it’s just mimicry as standard practice (see Crazy Rich Asians for a recent example). Screenwriter John Milius has noted that it’s not just in the movies, either.  The whole dropping of napalm sequence in the beginning of Apocalypse Now that follows the helicopter sequence has also been quite influential. Game of Thrones director Matt Shakman said the scene with the Napalm attack was a major influence on the dragon attack in the “loot train battle” from the Season 7 episode “The Spoils of War.”

 

Some people credit Apocalypse Now with introducing the “soundtrack to Vietnam” with its prominent use of popular songs by The Doors, The Rolling Stones, The Beach Boys, and Creedence Clearwater Revival (albeit through the non-CCR cover of “Suzie Q” by Flash Cadillac), along with the Wagner, of course. Vietnam War movies have become jukebox musicals (or just movies of that era with Vietnam sequences, such as Forrest Gump), and others have similarly used classical and opera music for big moments, too (Platoon, for instance). But that’s not the only way the movie has had an influence on music.  Fitting in with the Baler beach surfing legacy, British punk band The Clash quickly put out a song called “Charlie Don’t Surf,” which was released just over a year after the movie as part of the triple album Sandinista! of late 1980 but was first played earlier, in May. The lyrics also include the noticeably inspired line “Charlie’s gonna be a napalm star.”  In 1995, Iron Maiden put out their own Apocalypse Now-inspired song called “The Edge of Darkness,” off their album The X Factor. More directly linked, the lyrics almost make it an unofficial plot song for the movie, tracking Martin Sheen‘s character from his room in Saigon, as he’s brought his new mission “just like room service,” to his confrontation with Colonel Kurtz “acting like a God, an insane lunatic.”"

- Christopher Campbell, Film School Rejects

 

From the Filmmaker

 

 

 

Why It's the Greatest

 

Critic Opinion

 

"The TV ads are calling it "the most eagerly awaited motion picture of all time." Now comes the inevitable question. Was "Apocalypse Now," the movie that nearly cost its creator, Francis Coppola, his leading man (who suffered a heart attack due apparently to the rigorous demands of his role), his marriage, his entire bankroll and his sanity, worth all the much-publicized agony. I, for one, am not so sure.  Coppola's avowed purpose for making this movie was to bring home the true horror of the Vietnam war so that the millions of Americans, who were fortunate enough to have only viewed it from the comfort of their living room, could experience first hand the terror and the madness, the senseless brutality and the moral chaos of the most embarrassing of wars. And, certainly, no movie in history has ever presented stronger proof that war is living hell.

 

With the music blasting away, the helicopters swoop down on the village, mowing down every man, woman and child in sight. As the explosion continue, the Americans land - some showing understandable reluctance. A badly wounded Vietnamese begs for water. A priest struggles to say Mass in front of a burned out church. As an added precaution, fighter jets spray the nearby jungle with the dreaded napalm. By nightfall, the Americans are sitting pretty on the beach, enjoying T-bone steaks and beer.  This is just one of the chilling, bizarre sights viewed by Captain Willard (Martin Sheen), an American intelligence officer who has been ordered "to terminate" a certain Colonel Kurtz, a renegade American officer who, according to the Pentagon at least, had gone haywire in that he is now running his own war from a remote jungle outpost where Montagnard tribesmen worship him as their king. Like Marlow, the hero of Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness," which is the movie's main source of inspiration, Willard finds himself on a mind trip as he journeys up the Nam river in a Navy patrol boat, accompanied by a reluctant crew ("They're kids - mostly rock n' rollers with one foot in the grave," says Willard with disgust and yet some compassion.) As the jungle becomes more impenetrable and threatening, the movie takes on a more surrealistic, nightmarish quality."

- Kathleen Carroll, New York Daily News

 

User Opinion

 

"One of the best films ever made. Brilliant, atmospheric and unforgetable. Everything is impressive but the final 30 minutes when Brando appears is something truly unforgetable. A film with so many layers and interpretations. Coppola during the 70's had the best streak ever starting with The Godfather up until Apocalypse Now!

 

The horror, the horror...  One of the best lines and deliveries ever." - @acab

 

The Panda's Haiku

 

In comes the napalm

 

The Ride of the Valkyries

 

Bringing hell to all

 

 

Factoids

 

Placement on Prior Lists

 

2012 - 30, 2013 - 44, 2014 - Unranked, 2016 - 29, 2018 - 56

 

Director Count

 

Alfred Hitchock - 4, Stanley Kubrick - 4, Richard Linklater - 3, The Russo Brothers - 3, Lee Unkrich - 3, Alfonso Cuaron - 2,  David Fincher - 2, Akira Kurosawa - 2, John Lasseter - 2,  Sergio Leone - 2, John McTiernan - 2, Hayao Miyazaki - 2, Steven Spielberg - 2, Andrew Stanton - 2, Roger Allers - 1, John G. Avildsen - 1, Brad Bird - 1, Ash Brannon - 1, Mel Brooks - 1, Frank Capra - 1, James Cameron - 1, John Carpenter - 1, Damien Chazelle - 1, Ron Clements - 1, Francis Ford Coppola - 1, Stanley Donen - 1, Clint Eastwood - 1,Terry Gilliam - 1, Michel Gondry - 1, Rian Johnson - 1, Terry Jones - 1, Gene Kelly - 1, David Lean - 1, David Lynch - 1, Katia Lund - 1,Fernando Meirelles - 1, Rob Minkoff - 1, Adrian Molina - 1, John Musker - 1, Christopher Nolan - 1, Bob Persichetti - 1, Jan Pinkava - 1, Sam Raimi - 1, Peter Ramsey - 1, Rodney Rotham - 1,   Martin Scorsese - 1, Quentin Tarantino - 1, Guillermo del Toro - 1, Gary Trousdale - 1, Orson Welles - 1, Peter Weir - 1, Billy Wilder - 1, Kirk Wise - 1, Kar-Wai Wong - 1, Robert Zemeckis - 1

 

Franchise Count

 

Pixar - 7, Marvel Cinematic Universe - 3, Toy Story - 3, WDAS - 3, Before Trilogy - 2, Spider-Man - 2,  Studio Ghibli - 2, Cameron - 1, Die Hard - 1, Indiana Jones - 1, Monty Python - 1, Nolan - 1, Predator - 1, Rocky - 1, Scorsese -1, Star Wars - 1, Terminator - 1

 

Decade Count

 

1940s - 2, 1950s - 6, 1960s - 6, 1970s - 5, 1980s - 8, 1990s - 11, 2000s - 13, 2010s - 12

 

 

 

Edited July 21, 2020 by The Panda

[mldardy]

8 minutes ago, The Panda said:

 

 

"I love the smell of napalm in the morning."

 

About the Movie

 

Synopsis

 

"In 1969, at the height of the Vietnam War, Captain Benjamin Willard is resting in his hotel room, waiting for a mission to be given to him by the United States Army. A mission that no one else has ever been given before. The mission is to travel upriver to assassinate a colonel, who's gone AWOL and acts like a demi-god to a group of tribal natives in the jungle. Taking the mission for what it is, Willard travels upriver along with a ragtag group of American soldiers, some of which are called by their nicknames. Along the way, several obstacles get in their way of the mission including a deadly encounter with a tiger and heavy enemy fire at a strategic bridge. As Willard nears the end of his mission, he soon finds himself reeling in the horrors and sanity of war itself as he confronts the colonel face to face in which Willard's true nature begins to emerge slowly."

 

Its Legacy

 

"Not unlike Star Wars, which was made by almost Apocalypse Now helmer George Lucas, the Vietnam War-set odyssey is a mashup of influences — including its core basis in Joseph Conrad’s The Heart of Darkness, plus the poetry of T.S. Eliot, James George Frazer’s The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion, Werner Herzog’s Aguirre: The Wrath of God — yet is also itself one of the most influential movies of all time.  Not only did it help shape the depiction of the Vietnam War in cinema, despite not really dealing with much of the main conflict and despite being barely sourced in authenticity, but on its own terms, Apocalypse Now is a masterpiece of drama and iconography. And its legacy stems primarily from the latter, all its perfect shots (DP Vittorio Storaro won the Oscar for his cinematography) and set pieces and quotable dialogue, as a movie that presents war as both awful and awesome, a Hell for humanity but heaven for cinephiles.

 

There are few movies that have become so iconic as Apocalypse Now that certain scenes and lines of dialogue have just become common in the cinematic lexicon. That is to say, so many movies and TV shows and other works of art just copy moments, sometimes not even with any alteration, as something beyond and outside of typical homage or parody. For instance, having bats (Rango) or flies (The Smurfs) or ghosts (Casper) or toys (Small Soldiers) attack from the sky to the tune of Richard Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries,” that’s a fun tribute to Coppola’s movie, even if done silly and as a minor spoof.  But there are countless movies and shows in which the opera piece is used as the soundtrack for actual helicopters in a formation as if it’s an obligatory trope. Sometimes it’s because the characters within the story are diegetically referencing Apocalypse Now themselves, but often it’s just mimicry as standard practice (see Crazy Rich Asians for a recent example). Screenwriter John Milius has noted that it’s not just in the movies, either.  The whole dropping of napalm sequence in the beginning of Apocalypse Now that follows the helicopter sequence has also been quite influential. Game of Thrones director Matt Shakman said the scene with the Napalm attack was a major influence on the dragon attack in the “loot train battle” from the Season 7 episode “The Spoils of War.”

 

Some people credit Apocalypse Now with introducing the “soundtrack to Vietnam” with its prominent use of popular songs by The Doors, The Rolling Stones, The Beach Boys, and Creedence Clearwater Revival (albeit through the non-CCR cover of “Suzie Q” by Flash Cadillac), along with the Wagner, of course. Vietnam War movies have become jukebox musicals (or just movies of that era with Vietnam sequences, such as Forrest Gump), and others have similarly used classical and opera music for big moments, too (Platoon, for instance). But that’s not the only way the movie has had an influence on music.  Fitting in with the Baler beach surfing legacy, British punk band The Clash quickly put out a song called “Charlie Don’t Surf,” which was released just over a year after the movie as part of the triple album Sandinista! of late 1980 but was first played earlier, in May. The lyrics also include the noticeably inspired line “Charlie’s gonna be a napalm star.”  In 1995, Iron Maiden put out their own Apocalypse Now-inspired song called “The Edge of Darkness,” off their album The X Factor. More directly linked, the lyrics almost make it an unofficial plot song for the movie, tracking Martin Sheen‘s character from his room in Saigon, as he’s brought his new mission “just like room service,” to his confrontation with Colonel Kurtz “acting like a God, an insane lunatic.”"

- Christopher Campbell, Film School Rejects

 

From the Filmmaker

 

 

 

Why It's the Greatest

 

Critic Opinion

 

"The TV ads are calling it "the most eagerly awaited motion picture of all time." Now comes the inevitable question. Was "Apocalypse Now," the movie that nearly cost its creator, Francis Coppola, his leading man (who suffered a heart attack due apparently to the rigorous demands of his role), his marriage, his entire bankroll and his sanity, worth all the much-publicized agony. I, for one, am not so sure.  Coppola's avowed purpose for making this movie was to bring home the true horror of the Vietnam war so that the millions of Americans, who were fortunate enough to have only viewed it from the comfort of their living room, could experience first hand the terror and the madness, the senseless brutality and the moral chaos of the most embarrassing of wars. And, certainly, no movie in history has ever presented stronger proof that war is living hell.

 

With the music blasting away, the helicopters swoop down on the village, mowing down every man, woman and child in sight. As the explosion continue, the Americans land - some showing understandable reluctance. A badly wounded Vietnamese begs for water. A priest struggles to say Mass in front of a burned out church. As an added precaution, fighter jets spray the nearby jungle with the dreaded napalm. By nightfall, the Americans are sitting pretty on the beach, enjoying T-bone steaks and beer.  This is just one of the chilling, bizarre sights viewed by Captain Willard (Martin Sheen), an American intelligence officer who has been ordered "to terminate" a certain Colonel Kurtz, a renegade American officer who, according to the Pentagon at least, had gone haywire in that he is now running his own war from a remote jungle outpost where Montagnard tribesmen worship him as their king. Like Marlow, the hero of Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness," which is the movie's main source of inspiration, Willard finds himself on a mind trip as he journeys up the Nam river in a Navy patrol boat, accompanied by a reluctant crew ("They're kids - mostly rock n' rollers with one foot in the grave," says Willard with disgust and yet some compassion.) As the jungle becomes more impenetrable and threatening, the movie takes on a more surrealistic, nightmarish quality."

- Kathleen Carroll, New York Daily News

 

User Opinion

 

"One of the best films ever made. Brilliant, atmospheric and unforgetable. Everything is impressive but the final 30 minutes when Brando appears is something truly unforgetable. A film with so many layers and interpretations. Coppola during the 70's had the best streak ever starting with The Godfather up until Apocalypse Now!

 

The horror, the horror...  One of the best lines and deliveries ever." - @acab

 

The Panda's Haiku

 

In comes the napalm

 

The Ride of the Valkyries

 

Bringing hell to all

 

 

Factoids

 

Placement on Prior Lists

 

2012 - 30, 2013 - 44, 2014 - Unranked, 2016 - 29, 2018 - 56

 

Director Count

 

Alfred Hitchock - 4, Stanley Kubrick - 4, Richard Linklater - 3, The Russo Brothers - 3, Lee Unkrich - 3, Alfonso Cuaron - 2,  David Fincher - 2, Akira Kurosawa - 2, John Lasseter - 2,  Sergio Leone - 2, John McTiernan - 2, Hayao Miyazaki - 2, Steven Spielberg - 2, Andrew Stanton - 2, Roger Allers - 1, John G. Avildsen - 1, Brad Bird - 1, Ash Brannon - 1, Mel Brooks - 1, Frank Capra - 1, James Cameron - 1, John Carpenter - 1, Damien Chazelle - 1, Ron Clements - 1, Francis Ford Coppola - 1, Stanley Donen - 1, Clint Eastwood - 1,Terry Gilliam - 1, Michel Gondry - 1, Rian Johnson - 1, Terry Jones - 1, Gene Kelly - 1, David Lean - 1, David Lynch - 1, Katia Lund - 1,Fernando Meirelles - 1, Rob Minkoff - 1, Adrian Molina - 1, John Musker - 1, Christopher Nolan - 1, Bob Persichetti - 1, Jan Pinkava - 1, Sam Raimi - 1, Peter Ramsey - 1, Rodney Rotham - 1,   Martin Scorsese - 1, Quentin Tarantino - 1, Guillermo del Toro - 1, Gary Trousdale - 1, Orson Welles - 1, Peter Weir - 1, Billy Wilder - 1, Kirk Wise - 1, Kar-Wai Wong - 1, Robert Zemeckis - 1

 

Franchise Count

 

Pixar - 7, Marvel Cinematic Universe - 3, Toy Story - 3, WDAS - 3, Before Trilogy - 2, Spider-Man - 2,  Studio Ghibli - 2, Cameron - 1, Die Hard - 1, Indiana Jones - 1, Monty Python - 1, Nolan - 1, Predator - 1, Rocky - 1, Scorsese -1, Star Wars - 1, Terminator - 1

 

Decade Count

 

1940s - 2, 1950s - 6, 1960s - 6, 1970s - 5, 1980s - 8, 1990s - 11, 2000s - 13, 2010s - 12

 

 

 

Should be number 1.

[The Panda]

 

 

"That there's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo... and it's worth fighting for."

 

 

About the Movie

 

Synopsis

 

"The continuing quest of Frodo and the Fellowship to destroy the One Ring. Frodo and Sam discover they are being followed by the mysterious Gollum. Aragorn, the Elf archer Legolas, and Gimli the Dwarf encounter the besieged Rohan kingdom, whose once great King Theoden has fallen under Saruman's deadly spell."

 

Its Legacy

 

"Western culture, to a large extent, is defined by materialism. If anything becomes
popular, be it literature, music, or films, we tend to merchandise or make consumer goods based
on what is popular because it will sell. This mass culture has been given the rather derogatory
term called kitsch.' For example, some people might consider Mozart high art and the Beatles
kitsch. However, this contrast is necessarily done by the individual because some people might
consider the Beatles to be high art. Another way to put it is that high art is art in its purest form
without the influence of capitalism, and materialism and kitsch is what happens after high art
becomes popular and merchandised. Whether a person has seen the movies or not, it is safe to
say that since the first Lord of the Rings film came out in December of 2001 everyone has heard
of the story and its famous author J.R.R. Tolkien. Tolkien's work provides a very good example
of this process, going from being art and little more, to becoming a popular culture phenomenon,
and finally becoming a merchandising juggernaut. 

 

Probably the merchandising campaign for The Lord ofthe Rings came as a result of Peter
Jackson's very faithful production of the books on film. Though the movies only did
marginally well at the academy awards for the first two movies, it ended up winning best picture
for the last movie plus enough awards to tie it for the place of most awards won.
Not surprisingly, there were cloths, toys, games, video games, cups, calendars, swords, and
undoubtedly more. Just a simple walk through a store can tell us this. Without a doubt, millions
were made on this merchandise. Oddly enough Tolkien's surviving relatives will see little of it
because Tolkien sold the film rights. Consequently, the Tolkien family has had nothing to do 

with the movies. loo The one commodity that is based on Tolkien's work and not affiliated with
the movies is a Lord of the Rings Video game by Vivindi games. This final phase in the
history of Tolkien's influence on popular culture sees the greatest amount of merchandising of
Tolkien's works. Be it good or bad, Tolkien's work went from being practically art and nothing
more to a merchandising juggernaut. It seems to be a tendency of western culture to take the
things they like and bring them down to a mass culture level and make a lot of merchandise
based on it.

 

This is not necessarily bad but it could be considered cheapening.
J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth series has had a great influence on popular culture in
Europe and the United States. Beginning as books and little more it has gone through what
seems to be three phases, the early phase in which it seems more like high art, a middle phase in
which it was a pop culture item that influenced culture more than it was merchandized, and a
current phase in which it is no longer just books or movies but a commodity to be merchandized
and sold to make a lot of money. This occurrence is nothing new in our culture, but it seems to
happen to everything that becomes popular. In a capitalist society the push is to make a lot of
money. When something becomes popular, it is obvious that money can be made on it. Whether
this pattern is good or bad, it has happened to Tolkien's work and as long as interest in Tolkien
remains high, people will continue to think of new ways to make money on Tolkien. As a final
note, in an interview with one Tolkien fan I asked if the movies and merchandising would ruin
Tolkien, and the interest in his books. He answered that he believes Tolkien will survive.
Merchandising will detract from the books but not destroy them. We shall see."

- Michael A. Hall, Southern Illinois University - Carbondale

 

From the Filmmaker

 

 

 

Why It's the Greatest

 

Critic Opinion

 

"Though darker, more violent and even more of a cliffhanger than its predecessor, The Fellowship of the Ring,Towers also is more visually dazzling — which might seem unlikely, given the mastery of the first.  Not a sequel in the purest sense but a second act in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Towers literally takes up where Fellowship left off, with no Star Wars-style scroll or catch-up narration. Presumably when the three films are watched back-to-back, they will look like one masterwork. So a note to those whose memories need jogging: For maximum enjoyment, it wouldn't hurt to watch the first movie on video or DVD before catching this second installment.

 

The king's niece (Miranda Otto) is drawn to the handsome Aragorn for his strength and leadership. Remember from the first movie that Aragorn has pledged his love to Arwen (Liv Tyler), so their attraction is troubled.  But this is no love story. It's closer to a war flick, and the extended battle at Helms Deep is an amazing feat under the direction of Peter Jackson.  Coming in at one minute under three hours, the length is the movie's only drawback. Many consider the three-part saga to be the best adventure story ever told. That could be debated, but certainly the Ring movies are among the most breathtaking achievements in recent cinematic history."

- Claudia Puig, USA Today

 

User Opinion

 

"Oh god yes." - @Jack Nevada

 

The Panda's Haiku

 

Frodo and Samwise

 

Accompanied by what is

 

a friend or a fiend?

 

 

Factoids

 

Placement on Prior Lists

 

2012 - 11, 2013 - 29, 2014 - 19, 2016 - 12, 2018 - 10

 

Director Count

 

Alfred Hitchock - 4, Stanley Kubrick - 4, Richard Linklater - 3, The Russo Brothers - 3, Lee Unkrich - 3, Alfonso Cuaron - 2,  David Fincher - 2, Akira Kurosawa - 2, John Lasseter - 2,  Sergio Leone - 2, John McTiernan - 2, Hayao Miyazaki - 2, Steven Spielberg - 2, Andrew Stanton - 2, Roger Allers - 1, John G. Avildsen - 1, Brad Bird - 1, Ash Brannon - 1, Mel Brooks - 1, Frank Capra - 1, James Cameron - 1, John Carpenter - 1, Damien Chazelle - 1, Ron Clements - 1, Francis Ford Coppola - 1, Stanley Donen - 1, Clint Eastwood - 1,Terry Gilliam - 1, Michel Gondry - 1, Peter Jackson - 1, Rian Johnson - 1, Terry Jones - 1, Gene Kelly - 1, David Lean - 1, David Lynch - 1, Katia Lund - 1,Fernando Meirelles - 1, Rob Minkoff - 1, Adrian Molina - 1, John Musker - 1, Christopher Nolan - 1, Bob Persichetti - 1, Jan Pinkava - 1, Sam Raimi - 1, Peter Ramsey - 1, Rodney Rotham - 1,   Martin Scorsese - 1, Quentin Tarantino - 1, Guillermo del Toro - 1, Gary Trousdale - 1, Orson Welles - 1, Peter Weir - 1, Billy Wilder - 1, Kirk Wise - 1, Kar-Wai Wong - 1, Robert Zemeckis - 1

 

Franchise Count

 

Pixar - 7, Marvel Cinematic Universe - 3, Toy Story - 3, WDAS - 3, Before Trilogy - 2, Spider-Man - 2,  Studio Ghibli - 2, Cameron - 1, Die Hard - 1, Indiana Jones - 1, The Lord of the Rings - 1, Monty Python - 1, Nolan - 1, Predator - 1, Rocky - 1, Scorsese -1, Star Wars - 1, Terminator - 1

 

Decade Count

 

1940s - 2, 1950s - 6, 1960s - 6, 1970s - 5, 1980s - 8, 1990s - 11, 2000s - 14, 2010s - 12

 

 

 

Edited July 21, 2020 by The Panda

[Madhuvan]

Wow. Lord of the rings fell from Top 10 to this. 😮😮

 

 

[Dementeleus]

I think I have a good grasp on what the top ten will be.

1. Stalker
2. Titanic
3. Die Hard

4. The Matrix
5. 8 ½ 
6. The Shawshank Redemption
7. Umberto D.
8. The Third Man

9. Black Narcissus

10. Billy Madison

Edited July 21, 2020 by Plain Old Tele

[Fancyarcher]

19 minutes ago, Plain Old Tele said:

I think I have a good grasp on what the top ten will be.

1. Stalker
2. Titanic
3. Die Hard

4. The Matrix
5. 8 ½ 
6. The Shawshank Redemption
7. Umberto D.
8. The Third Man

9. Black Narcissus

10. Billy Madison

You forget Hard To Be A God!

[grey ghost]

22 minutes ago, Plain Old Tele said:

I think I have a good grasp on what the top ten will be.

1. Stalker
2. Titanic
3. Die Hard

4. The Matrix
5. 8 ½ 
6. The Shawshank Redemption
7. Umberto D.
8. The Third Man

9. Black Narcissus

10. Billy Madison

You're missing around 5 Nolan movies.

[Cap]

14 minutes ago, Fancyarcher said:

You forget Hard To Be A God!

And 12 Angry Men

[Ethan Hunt]

6 hours ago, Plain Old Tele said:

I think I have a good grasp on what the top ten will be.

1. Stalker
2. Titanic
3. Die Hard

4. The Matrix
5. 8 ½ 
6. The Shawshank Redemption
7. Umberto D.
8. The Third Man

9. Black Narcissus

10. Billy Madison

Twle ruins his own joke by using a movie that's already shown up

[baumer]

6 hours ago, Plain Old Tele said:

I think I have a good grasp on what the top ten will be.

1. Stalker
2. Titanic
3. Die Hard

4. The Matrix
5. 8 ½ 
6. The Shawshank Redemption
7. Umberto D.
8. The Third Man

9. Black Narcissus

10. Billy Madison

 

You're missing Harry Potter and whatever other Pixar films haven't appeared here so far 

[The Panda]

Some more just misses

 

 

 

"A world in disarray can only be brought back into a unified stability through an open and honest dialogue between people.  We make so many assumptions, take in so many inferences, draw too many conclusions, but we don't sit down and honestly try to talk and understand each other.    Arrival is a somber film that leaves you with a sense of hope, but more importantly it tries to guide you to a truth.  Arrival is a mirror to a fundamental flaw in human society, a flaw that has led humanity to so much violence.  Language and how we talk to one another is how our differences are formed, and the only way to settle them.

 

Humans have tried to settle this lack of understanding, and the fear it causes, with violence, with panic, with rushed conclusions.  We'd take every option, and take so much for granted, that we skip over the talking part (or spending time to see if the two people having a conversation are even using the same road map, the same framework).  Arrival was sci-fi, exactly how sci-fi is meant to be.  It critiques humanity, and offers hope." - @The Panda

 

 

 

"This is fucking great. Talk about a debut for Jordan Peele. 

 

The old lady next to me kept falling asleep though so that was annoying." - @aabattery

 

 

 

"My favorite movie of all time. Factually one of the greatest movies of all time, period. Some of the best performances in the careers of the star studded cast (especially in Spacey's case). Masterful dialogue and world building. Grizzly, unafraid to shock - but its shock aren't unearned or done for the hell of it; they have a place within the narrative and within the movie's whole purpose: to put the viewer to think about the world that surrounds him. Is it one of the most cynical films ever created? Absolutely. But cutting to the chase here, as far as filmmaking is concerned, this is a masterpiece. Fincher's masterpiece, more precisely. And I love most of his work - Fight Club, Zodiac, Social Network, Dragon Tattoo, Gone Girl... all incredible. Se7en puts them all to shame, and that's saying something." - @MCKillswitch123

 

 

 

"All About Eve is a film which makes you happy to be a movie lover. It boasts one of the best scripts ever written and has a cast that matches that script word for word. Davis gives one of the best female performances I've ever seen and should have won the Oscar for it. It's easy to see why it is so highly lauded. Direction is flawless." - @acsc1312

 

 

 

"A beautiful film, good acting (at least the main characters) and nice costumes. Most interior scenes are lit far too bright. Takes some liberties with history and biography but that makes fur a fun Mozart." - @IndustriousAngel

 

[Dementeleus]

Geez...

[MrGamer]

6 minutes ago, The Panda said:

 

 

 

 

[The Panda]

EDIT: Graphic should say 13 votes, not 6

 

 

 

"Who? Who? What are you, a fucking owl?"

 

 

About the Movie

 

Synopsis

 

"Neil McCauley leads a group of professional bank robbers, taking down major scores around LA. However after their latest heist goes terribly wrong and ends up in homicide, Det. Vincent Hannah finds a clue and becomes obsessed with the case determined to stop McCauley's crew. Hannah and McCauley are competing against each other in a deadly cat-and-mouse game. Although they are on different sides of the law, they still find huge respect, recognition in each others troubled personal lives and they understand each others motivations - however this won't make them hesitate to do whatever they can to win the battle between them two in this crime saga."

 

Its Legacy

 

"Heat is a movie that has truly left a mark on the telegram chat.  The telegram portion of the forums has been a vitally active part of the community, but to gain acceptance one must hail Heat as one of the all-time greatest masterpieces ever made.  It has formed a devoted and passionate cult following from members, such as, @MrGamer, @Ethan Hunt, @Jake Gittes and @MrPink.  Unlike the untitled Michael Mann cyberthriller that was never released in China ( @Plain Old Tele ), Heat is actually a damn awesome movie.  That's its legacy.  It's just fucking great." - @The Panda

 

From the Filmmaker

 

 

 

Why It's the Greatest

 

Critic Opinion

 

"Michael Mann’s sprawling Los Angeles crime saga “Heat” premiered in December of 1995 to respectful reviews and decent, if unspectacular, box office numbers. (It opened in third place, behind “Jumanji” and “Toy Story.”) The film received no Oscar nominations nor any year-end critics’ awards, and yet for a generation of young men the movie — which featured the first onscreen face-off between Method acting titans Al Pacino and Robert De Niro — was an event bordering on the sacramental. Indeed, one of my fondest filmgoing memories is going to see a late show on opening night in New York City with some college buddies. Afterwards we retired to the bar next door and talked about the movie until the lights came on at 4 a.m. and we were asked to leave. Then we talked about it all the way home.  Dudes love to talk about “Heat.” I often joke that the film — which screens Monday night at the Coolidge Corner Theatre as part of their Big Screen Classics series — has been watched on more black leather couches in man caves than any other movie except maybe “The Godfather” or “Goodfellas.” Starring Pacino as a high-strung detective obsessed with bringing down De Niro’s methodical master thief, it’s an intricately plotted, 170-minute cat-and-mouse game with over 70 speaking roles and at least two of the decade’s defining action set-pieces.

 

“Heat” represented the culmination of more than two decades of crime stories by writer-director Mann. In features such as “Thief” and “Manhunter,” and through television shows like “Miami Vice,” the filmmaker obsessively reworked and refined tales of obsessed cops tracking smooth criminals. Former police sergeant Chuck Adamson served as a technical advisor on Mann’s first film, and together the two created the regrettably short-lived TV serial “Crime Story,” based on Adamson’s exploits as head of Chicago’s Major Crimes Unit in the 1960s. (A retired cop from Adamson's burglary division named Dennis Farina wound up playing his old boss on the show.)

 

“Heat” is the most meticulously designed of Mann’s features, with careful compositions positioning the characters against bustling cityscapes and empty expanses that externalize their interior lives. It’s awfully talky for an action movie, providing meaty monologues for a massive supporting cast that includes Val Kilmer, Ashley Judd, Natalie Portman and Jon Voight. The film delves so deeply into the characters’ dysfunctional home lives that it’s more like a melodrama with machine guns. Its most memorable fireworks are provided not by the justifiably legendary mid-movie shootout in downtown LA’s business district, but rather the preceding coffee shop scene in which Pacino and De Niro finally share the screen.  It was a meeting audiences had been waiting more than 20 years for, and Mann teased expectations by keeping the two icons apart until nearly the movie’s halfway mark. Their roles are skillfully shaped around each performer’s distinctive style, with Pacino’s edgy detective intimidating informants via noisy, nonsensical showboating with the actor’s trademark theatricality. (“Ferocious, aren’t I?” he asks during one of his most playful interrogations.) De Niro is all coiled menace and minimalist movements. He’s one of the greatest actors ever to work in close-ups, and some of the movie’s most powerful moments take place in silence with his face filling the screen.

 

“I compliment your obsessions,” Mann kidded Howard, describing the endeavor as “insane in a wonderful way.” I must confess that I feel a little lonely now that “One Heat Minute” has come to a close. What a treat it was to tune in a couple times a week and hear some of cinema’s sharpest minds poring over one of my favorite movies in such thoughtful, fanatical detail. The podcast had a marvelous way of making the whole world feel like my old college apartment back in the '90s, when all we did was talk about “Heat.”" 

- Decades Later, Viewers Still Feel The 'Heat' For Michael Mann's 1995 LA Crime Saga, Sean Burns

 

User Opinion

 

"Watched it for the first time in probably 4 or 5 years. Goddamn masterwork, especially directing, casting, cinematography and editing - what really jumped out at me this time was the sheer number of characters the film introduces and then makes us care about; even extras who only have a line or two make a lasting impression, and Dennis Haysbert's little side plot is heartbreaking all on its own taking up probably less than 10 minutes of screentime and 2 or 3 minutes of dialogue. "A Los Angeles Crime Saga" is what it is, from the very first shot to the very last (also one of the greatest closing shots in history). And to this day I haven't seen any city shot as richly and evocatively in any film as LA in Heat. The atmosphere of it is just overwhelming." - @Jake Gittes

 

"I pity all you poor bastards who didn't get a chance to see this on the big screen." - @Plain Old Tele

 

"<<<

 

Twice

 

<<<< Drops mic" - @DAR

 

"It was either three or four for me, I can't remember. " - @Plain Old Tele

 

The Panda's Haiku

 

Telegram feels da heat

 

Box Office Theory feels da heat

 

The World feels da heat

 

 

Factoids

 

Placement on Prior Lists

 

2012 - Unranked, 2013 - 89, 2014 - Unranked, 2016 - 77, 2018 - 75

 

Director Count

 

Alfred Hitchock - 4, Stanley Kubrick - 4, Richard Linklater - 3, The Russo Brothers - 3, Lee Unkrich - 3, Alfonso Cuaron - 2,  David Fincher - 2, Akira Kurosawa - 2, John Lasseter - 2,  Sergio Leone - 2, John McTiernan - 2, Hayao Miyazaki - 2, Steven Spielberg - 2, Andrew Stanton - 2, Roger Allers - 1, John G. Avildsen - 1, Brad Bird - 1, Ash Brannon - 1, Mel Brooks - 1, Frank Capra - 1, James Cameron - 1, John Carpenter - 1, Damien Chazelle - 1, Ron Clements - 1, Francis Ford Coppola - 1, Stanley Donen - 1, Clint Eastwood - 1,Terry Gilliam - 1, Michel Gondry - 1, Peter Jackson - 1, Rian Johnson - 1, Terry Jones - 1, Gene Kelly - 1, David Lean - 1, David Lynch - 1, Katia Lund - 1, Michael Mann - 1, Fernando Meirelles - 1, Rob Minkoff - 1, Adrian Molina - 1, John Musker - 1, Christopher Nolan - 1, Bob Persichetti - 1, Jan Pinkava - 1, Sam Raimi - 1, Peter Ramsey - 1, Rodney Rotham - 1,   Martin Scorsese - 1, Quentin Tarantino - 1, Guillermo del Toro - 1, Gary Trousdale - 1, Orson Welles - 1, Peter Weir - 1, Billy Wilder - 1, Kirk Wise - 1, Kar-Wai Wong - 1, Robert Zemeckis - 1

 

Franchise Count

 

Pixar - 7, Marvel Cinematic Universe - 3, Toy Story - 3, WDAS - 3, Before Trilogy - 2, Spider-Man - 2,  Studio Ghibli - 2, Cameron - 1, Die Hard - 1, Indiana Jones - 1, The Lord of the Rings - 1, Monty Python - 1, Nolan - 1, Predator - 1, Rocky - 1, Scorsese -1, Star Wars - 1, Terminator - 1

 

Decade Count

 

1940s - 2, 1950s - 6, 1960s - 6, 1970s - 5, 1980s - 8, 1990s - 12, 2000s - 14, 2010s - 12

 

 

 

Edited July 21, 2020 by The Panda