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

[TMP]

2 of my 3 favorite films of all time are #46 and #45 here. Maybe I should have sent in a list, lol

[Daxtreme]

Revenge of the Sith near the top 100 at #137

 

The memes are really doing some work

[Joel M]

Sunset Boulevard is the second best 1950 movie about an aging Hollywood diva.

[The Panda]

 

 

"Ofelia! Magic does not exist. Not for you, me or anyone else."

 

About the Movie

 

Synopsis

 

"In 1944 Falangist Spain, a girl, fascinated with fairy-tales, is sent along with her pregnant mother to live with her new stepfather, a ruthless captain of the Spanish army. During the night, she meets a fairy who takes her to an old faun in the center of the labyrinth. He tells her she's a princess, but must prove her royalty by surviving three gruesome tasks. If she fails, she will never prove herself to be the true princess and will never see her real father, the king, again."

 

Its Legacy

 

"Ten years ago today, Guillermo del Toro’s masterpiece, Pan’s Labyrinth, was unleashed upon a wide audience. The buildup was slow, but steady. The film spent months on the festival circuit, premiering first at Cannes in May the previous year, before getting a limited release in American theaters that December. Strong word of mouth helped propel the film as it made its coast to coast march, solidifying del Toro as a prominent force within genre filmmaking.  A decade later, Pan’s Labyrinth remains del Toro’s best, most enduring work. Essential among his catalogue, it’s the first of his films that feels completely his own, where he’s at the peak of his talents and knows exactly how to use them. No film has ever quite captured that del Toro feel—that del Toro joie de film—quite like Pan’s Labyrinth.  There’s also a certain relevance to Pan’s Labyrinth today that lends the film and its message more weight than it did just a decade ago. When we speak of Pan’s Labyrinth casually, we tend to remember the more magical elements of the film first and foremost. The Faun, the Pale Man, the fairies. Certainly those elements are full of del Toro’s neo-horror flair and penchant for the fantastic, but the heart of the story remains the struggle against the rising tide of fascist forces.

 

There was no darker time and place in the 20th century than Europe in the 1940s. The rise of fascism that begat World War II also begat a series of civil wars that further ripped apart and divided the continent. Ofelia would’ve had little memory of a world outside of war. From an early age she lived through the hardships of battle and witnessed the rise of fascist forces overtake the will of the people. Hers was a world filled with darkness and grief—not only over the life of her father, but of the life promised to her from youth. Ofelia has no escape, no refuge from the violent and oppressive state of the world around her, save for fairy tales.  It feels odd to say, but there are 11-year-olds in America today who’ve never known a life outside of war. The situations are vastly different, sure—as of yet, our country hasn’t had to suffer the horrors of war within our borders—but to those born around the year 2000, the idea of being at war is a concept they’ve grown up familiar with. Brothers, sisters, fathers, and mothers have all lost their lives in foreign lands, not unlike Ofelia’s father, whose death before the movie is an inciting event.  In this sense, Ofelia becomes a fairy tale heroine for the modern age—perhaps the first and most poignant fairy tale heroine since the time of the Brothers Grimm. In the Campbellian sense, fairy tales and myths are meant to guide humans along the path of life, filling the gaps of human understanding and providing light along otherwise dark trails. Del Toro tends to follow the Campbellian formula, laid out in The Masks of God, The Power of Myth, and Hero with A Thousand Faces, in a way that explores the purpose of story and creates a new fable for the modern era.

 

These times of ours are full of angst and fear, just as Franco’s Spain was and just as Hitler’s Germany was. In terrifying times, people tend to act rashly, make poor decisions, and exalt leaders who ought not be exalted. It’s difficult not to see the correlation between then and now, but as darkness once again threatens to descend on us, it’s important to remember the lessons—and the refuge—that story can provide us.  Beyond serving as a critique against fascism, Pan’s Labyrinth is a loving ode to the power of story. Story can provide us with a place to turn when there’s nowhere left to go, and the mythical traditions offers a tangible compass with which to realign our sense of right and wrong. The citizens of Spain fell too easy for the promises of General Franco, and his rise was bloody and terrible. That’s not a path we need ever walk down again. Right and wrong are both encoded within our psychology, even if we need a little help to find them in the darkness.  Pan’s Labyrinth is as detailed a map as we can be given, reminding us both that we can find solace in story as well as guidance. As a movie, it provides us with both. Its fantasy-woven tale of good and evil works as pure escapism, but on a deeper level it shows us what to do when faced with the coming of evil. Wicked men must never be given an inch; they can be defeated. All it takes is a little bravery. In terms of role models to show us our courage, we could do far worse than Ofelia. For that, del Toro won’t soon be forgotten, as either a filmmaker or story-teller."

- James Roberts, Glide Magazine

 

From the Filmmaker

 

 

 

Why It's the Greatest

 

Critic Opinion

 

"Del Toro deliberately evokes classic children’s literature and film throughout. Ofelia is sometimes dressed up like Alice In Wonderland’s Victorian illustrations and finds herself drawn to a pagan Wonderland which has parallels with The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe (the little heroine’s guide in that was also a faun) and The Wizard Of Oz (lessons learned in dream must be applied in reality). There are even echoes of the old Jim Henson artefact Labyrinth, and curious parallels with the recent MirrorMask. But Pan’s Labyrinth works better as a movie than either, perhaps because it’s a rare fantasy that impresses in the ‘reality’ scenes as much as in its flights of imagination.  The goat-eyed, backwards-kneed faun offers intriguingly ambiguous revelations of the destiny Ofelia might fulfil, just so long as she follows orders. But he doesn’t necessarily mean what he says, and the example of the grown-up Fascists in Ofelia’s life suggests that blindly doing what she’s told at the expense of her conscience is the last course of action she should follow. So while there are trips into magical worlds, including a memorable encounter with a Clive-Barkerian spectre called The Pale Man which has loose folds of skin and eyeballs in its hands, Ofelia’s magical experiences don’t overwhelm the film.

 

This may deal with the stuff of children’s stories, but it is a tale for grown-ups. Several torture scenes are extraordinarily gruelling: by dwelling on Vidal’s ritual preparation for interrogation (and the set speech he delivers to demoralise victims before he starts using his implements), Del Toro somehow makes the scenes more uncomfortable than the full-on slicing and battering in, say, Hostel.  He makes sparing but always-impactful use of CGI, not only in the magical sequences (an encounter with a puffball of a giant toad, insect-like fairies) but in the more gruesome moments (the blood and booze soaking through the white bandage just applied over a sewn-up wound is a real cringe-maker). The home stretch is at once tragic and satisfying, with a killer of a send-off line, and no easy out as life and death, and reality and fantasy come crashing together.  Dark, twisted and beautiful, this entwines fairy-tale fantasy with war-movie horror to startling effect."

- Kim Newman, Empire

 

User Opinion

 

"One of the great modern fairytales." - @Plain Old Tele

 

The Panda's Haiku

 

Labyrinth of War

 

Seeking a way of escape

 

Fascist tragedy

 

 

Factoids

 

Placement on Prior Lists

 

2012 - 63, 2013 - 50, 2014 - 79, 2016 - Unranked, 2018 - 45

 

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 McTiernan - 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, Clint Eastwood - 1,Terry Gilliam - 1, Michel Gondry - 1, Rian Johnson - 1, Terry Jones - 1, David Lean - 1, Sergio Leone - 1, David Lynch - 1, Katia Lund - 1, John Lasseter - 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, Steven Spielberg - 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

 

Franchise Count

 

Pixar - 6, Marvel Cinematic Universe - 3, WDAS - 3, Before Trilogy - 2, Spider-Man - 2,  Toy Story - 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 - 5, 1960s - 5, 1970s - 4, 1980s - 8, 1990s - 7, 2000s - 13, 2010s - 12

 

 

 

Edited July 20, 2020 by The Panda

[charlie Jatinder]

 

@grim22 can we have this as emoticon.

 

Please.

[MrGamer]

10 hours ago, The Panda said:

 

 

 

"how is this possible? same director, same screenwritter, same actors, same composer, how could this be any better than the previous two movies? It was, it was so much better that I can't describe in words, it's not perfect cause it had some awful lines, but it's near perfection. I believe in miracles now." - @Goffe

 

 

[Daxtreme]

9 minutes ago, The Panda said:

 

 

"Ofelia! Magic does not exist. Not for you, me or anyone else."

 

Placement on Prior Lists

 

2012 - 63, 2013 - 50, 2014 - 79, 2016 - Unranked, 2018 - 45

 

 

Highest ever by... 1 position! 

 

Great placement

[The Panda]

 

 

 

"Stupid is as stupid does."

 

 

About the Movie

 

Synopsis

 

"Forrest Gump is a simple man with a low I.Q. but good intentions. He is running through childhood with his best and only friend Jenny. His 'mama' teaches him the ways of life and leaves him to choose his destiny. Forrest joins the army for service in Vietnam, finding new friends called Dan and Bubba, he wins medals, creates a famous shrimp fishing fleet, inspires people to jog, starts a ping-pong craze, creates the smiley, writes bumper stickers and songs, donates to people and meets the president several times. However, this is all irrelevant to Forrest who can only think of his childhood sweetheart Jenny Curran, who has messed up her life. Although in the end all he wants to prove is that anyone can love anyone." - IMDb

 

Its Legacy

 

"It's a heartwarming, epic journey through defining events of the late 20th century, as seen through the eyes of a dim-witted but honorable hero whose life is a testament to small-town American values.  It's an overrated, manipulative tearjerker that glosses over a turbulent period of U.S. history and suggests a simpleton can become a successful businessman, husband and father merely by chance.  With "Forrest Gump," which hit theaters 20 years ago this weekend, there's not much middle ground.  The movie won the best picture Oscar, earned $677 million around the world and is hailed by many as a modern classic, filled with homespun catchphrases like, "My momma always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get."  But many critics -- and some moviegoers -- hated it. To them, "Forrest Gump" was a simpleminded mix of gooey sentiment and ridiculous flights of fancy. (Forrest suddenly decides to jog back and forth across the country? For three years? Seriously?)

 

"Robert Zemeckis' ode to 20th century America still represents one of cinema's most clearly drawn lines in the sand," said Entertainment Weekly a decade after the movie's release. "One-half of folks see it as an artificial piece of pop melodrama, while everyone else raves that it's sweet as a box of chocolates."  Twenty years later, the movie remains a cultural touchstone -- and surprisingly polarizing. While some other best picture winners from the '90s ("The English Patient") have faded from memory, it's hard to find someone even now who doesn't have an opinion about "Forrest Gump."  "I think the movie can be read in several different ways," said Sam Wineburg, a professor of history at Stanford University who has co-authored academic papers about the movie's influence. "It can be read as a celebration of American goodness and innocence. And it can also be read as a kind of critique of American naivete and innocence."

 

Forrest, as played by Tom Hanks, is the epitome of wholesome decency: a God-fearing, All-American football player and war hero who has no use for the counterculture movements of the late '60s. Despite an IQ of 75, he achieves fame and financial success. He's even from red-state Alabama!  Meanwhile Forrest's childhood sweetheart, Jenny Curran, becomes a promiscuous hippie, joins the anti-war movement, hangs out with the Black Panthers, gets strung out on cocaine, ponders suicide and eventually -- if you need a spoiler alert here, we feel sorry for you -- dies of an unspecified disease.  No wonder many political conservatives embraced the movie. In 2009 the National Review ranked it No. 4 on its list of the 25 best conservative films of the past 25 years.  "It seems the film promotes a very conventional conservative political position," said Daniel Herbert, a professor of media culture at the University of Michigan. "While both Forrest and Jenny experience many of the most notable historical events of the era, Jenny's anti-conformist lifestyle is made to look very unappealing."

 

"This movie is so insistently heartwarming that it chilled me to the marrow," wrote Anthony Lane in The New Yorker. "There are no moral crosswinds here, not a breath of doubt or unease to ruffle the Gump image."  Some critics griped the movie had no nuance, no subtlety, no shades of gray to muddy its simplistic view of the world.  "It is incredibly manipulative ... in what I would say is the most dangerous way, which is manipulation through a sleight-of-hand superficial liberalism; it hides its political conservatism in a good-ole-boy story about a protagonist whose very heroism is totally unconscious, unaware," said Hunter Vaughan, a professor of film theory at the University of Oakland in Rochester, Michigan.  "It is a funny film, a sweet film, and an entertaining film," he added. "But it is a deceptive film, a manipulative film, and (like most best picture winners) a conservative film."

 

"Forrest Gump" spans some 30 years and touches on many important chapters in U.S. history, including the Vietnam War, the '60s anti-war movement and the Watergate scandal. Along the way Forrest encounters a young Elvis Presley and three U.S. presidents and even appears to inspire John Lennon's "Imagine" when he meets the ex-Beatle on a talk show.  Some teachers have shown the movie in high school classrooms as a jumping-off point for discussing the '60s and '70s.  "The film ... simplifies historical events that were incredibly tumultuous and complex," said the University of Michigan's Herbert. By presenting history through the experiences of the slow-witted Forrest, the movie "situates history as something to be felt, emotionally, at the expense of intellectual consideration."  Wineburg, of Stanford, surveyed students about the movie and found that they remembered iconic moments, such as the scene where Forrest accidentally addresses an anti-war protest in Washington and reunites with Jenny. But the students didn't remember how Forrest got there, or understand the scene's historical undercurrent -- that disillusioned Vietnam veterans were instrumental in turning public opinion against the war.

 

"Forrest Gump" received kudos for its unobtrusive and Oscar-winning digital effects that made Gary Sinise's Lt. Dan look like he had no legs and turned a few thousand extras at the Lincoln Memorial into half a million war protesters.  The filmmakers also inserted Hanks seamlessly into archival footage of presidents John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard Nixon, providing some of the movie's funniest moments.  "Forrest Gump" blends drama, comedy, reality and fantasy into a genre-busting saga that almost defies description. It shouldn't work, but it does.  Its scenes, and lines, are indelible to many of us: "Run, Forrest, run!" "I gotta pee." "Stupid is as stupid does." "That boy sure is a runnin' fool!" "I'm sorry I had to fight in the middle of your Black Panther party." "There's pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp ..."  The list, and "Forrest Gump's" legacy, goes on and on. And that's all we have to say about that."

- Brandon Griggs, CNN

 

From the Filmmaker

 

 

 

Why It's the Greatest

 

Critic Opinion

"A picaresque story of a simpleton’s charmed odyssey through 30 years of tumultuous American history, “Forrest Gump” is whimsy with a strong cultural spine. Elegantly made and winningly acted by Tom Hanks in his first outing since his Oscar-winning “Philadelphia” performance, Robert Zemeckis’ technically dazzling new film is also shrewdly packaged to hit baby boomers where they live. Pic offers up a non-stop barrage of emotional and iconographic identification points that will make the postwar generation feel they’re seeing their lives passing by onscreen. Paramount’s target audience is obvious, and boffo B.O. should ensue.  In a part Dustin Hoffman might once have killed for, Hanks plays a kind of semi-imbecile whose very blankness makes him an ideal audience prism through which many of the key events of the ’50s through early ’80s can be viewed. Lacking any ideology or analytical powers, Gump is the immutable innocent moving in a state of grace through a nation in the process of losing its innocence, an Everyman who acts instinctively in an age defined by political divisiveness.

 

In covering so much ground, literally and figuratively, Eric Roth’s intelligently structured, finely tuned screenplay also serves up innumerable cultural touchstones that will have most viewers in the 30-50 age range melting in recognition. Main themes here have to do with the impulse to recapture the past; the wish to return to one’s childhood, or at least the site of it; the desire to fulfill your life with your original true love; the need to refashion the simple feeling of homeafter many aimless years; and assuming the responsibilities of parenthood after much delay.  Gump reps another career triumph for Hanks after his Oscar turn. Affecting a Southern drawl and affable sweetness, the actor draws the viewer close to his curious character immediately, and manages to keep one intrigued and amused throughout. His comic timing is as sharp as ever, even when interacting with real-life figures in docu footage, and his malleable physicality contributes a great deal to the intermittent hilarity." - Todd McCarthy, Variety

 

User Opinion

 

"This movie gives you so much.

It has everything you want to see, memorable characters, spectacle, heart, humor, emotion, it is really a rollercoaster.

Hanks as Gump is for the Ages, but the cast does a stellar job.

And the end crushes me everytime, when he asks if his kid is normal, I am a mess and I cry like an 8 yo girl.

Fantastic score from Silvestri.

Fantastic directing from Zemeckis as usual, he understands every scene and they all have an impact.

A+++" - @The Futurist

 

"One of the best movies ever. Awesome soundtrack and great performances from Hanks, Wright, Sinise, and Field. Loved how they inserted Forrest into so many famous historical moments. Excellent balance of humor and emotion in the story." - @redfirebird2008

 

The Panda's Haiku

 

Run, Forrest, Run! *gag*

 

See him run through history

 

Ha! Elvis, wink, nudge

 

 

Factoids

 

Placement on Prior Lists

 

2012 - 15, 2013 - 23, 2014 - 39, 2016 - 13, 2018 - 32

 

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 McTiernan - 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, Clint Eastwood - 1,Terry Gilliam - 1, Michel Gondry - 1, Rian Johnson - 1, Terry Jones - 1, David Lean - 1, Sergio Leone - 1, David Lynch - 1, Katia Lund - 1, John Lasseter - 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, Steven Spielberg - 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 - 6, Marvel Cinematic Universe - 3, WDAS - 3, Before Trilogy - 2, Spider-Man - 2,  Toy Story - 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 - 5, 1960s - 5, 1970s - 4, 1980s - 8, 1990s - 8, 2000s - 13, 2010s - 12

 

 

 

Edited July 20, 2020 by The Panda

[Plain Old Tele]

This is a dystopian nightmare. Why, 2020, why?

[4815162342]

5 minutes ago, Plain Old Tele said:

This is a dystopian nightmare. Why, 2020, why?

 

Time to go to Santa Barbara

[The Panda]

 

 

"One minute you're defending the whole galaxy, and, suddenly, you find yourself sucking down darjeeling with Marie Antoinette... and her little sister."

 

 

About the Movie

 

Synopsis

 

"A little boy named Andy loves to be in his room, playing with his toys, especially his doll named "Woody". But, what do the toys do when Andy is not with them, they come to life. Woody believes that his life (as a toy) is good. However, he must worry about Andy's family moving, and what Woody does not know is about Andy's birthday party. Woody does not realize that Andy's mother gave him an action figure known as Buzz Lightyear, who does not believe that he is a toy, and quickly becomes Andy's new favorite toy. Woody, who is now consumed with jealousy, tries to get rid of Buzz. Then, both Woody and Buzz are now lost. They must find a way to get back to Andy before he moves without them, but they will have to pass through a ruthless toy killer, Sid Phillips."

 

Its Legacy

 

"1. It altered the way animated films were created: In addition to looking entirely different from its animated predecessors, Forbes reported in 1995 that "Toy Story" was the first movie in which it was possible to store digital characters, sets and scenes in computers so that animators wouldn't have to re-draw each cell. "They can be reproduced and adapted economically and infinitely, in film and video sequels and spinoff products like toys, TV shows, and CD-ROM games," the magazine reported. "Pixar's techniques so dramatically reduce the amount of manual labor required to make high-quality cartoons that they may well change the economics of animation."

 

3. It helped pave the way for animated films at the Oscars: "Toy Story"'s co-writer and director John Lasseter received a Special Achievement Oscar at the 1996 Academy Awards for "the development and inspired application of techniques that have made possible the first feature-length computer-animated film," according to a Los Angeles Times article from that time. The movie, which earned three Oscar nominations that year, also became the first animated movie to receive a nod for Best Original Screenplay. However, it wasn't the last: "Finding Nemo," "The Incredibles," "Ratatouille," "WALL-E," and "Up" were also recognized for their screenplays, and "Up" and "Toy Story 3" were nominated for Best Picture. (The first Disney movie to ever garner a Best Picture nomination, however, was "Beauty and the Beast" in 1992.) There was a category for Best Animated Feature added in 2001.

 

4. Big-name stars began voicing animated characters more frequently: Though celebrities voiced animated characters before 1995, after Tom Hanks and Tim Allen signed on to "Toy Story," A-listers began lining up to participate in computer-animated films, including Mike Myers, Ellen DeGeneres, and Mindy Kaling.

 

5. It lent credence to the idea that animated movies didn't have to be musicals: Unlike many of the animated movies that came before it, "Toy Story" was not a musical. Joss Whedon, one of the screenwriters behind the film, said in his biography that "it would have been a really bad musical because it's a buddy movie." Plus, the movie didn't have what Whedon called "an 'I want' number" that was so prominent in other animated films because it wouldn't have made sense for the story. "Woody can't do an 'I want' number... he's cynical and selfish, he doesn't know himself," he continued. "Buddy movies are about sublimating, punching an arm, 'I hate you.' It's not an open emotion.""

- Leslery Messer, ABC News

 

From the Filmmaker

 

 

 

Why It's the Greatest

 

Critic Opinion

 

""Toy Story" creates a universe out of a couple of kid's bedrooms, a gas station, and a stretch of suburban highway. Its heroes are toys, which come to life when nobody is watching. Its conflict is between an old-fashioned cowboy who has always been a little boy's favorite toy, and the new space ranger who may replace him. The villain is the mean kid next door who takes toys apart and puts them back together again in macabre combinations. And the result is a visionary roller-coaster ride of a movie.  For the kids in the audience, a movie like this will work because it tells a fun story, contains a lot of humor, and is exciting to watch. Older viewers may be even more absorbed, because "Toy Story," the first feature made entirely by computer, achieves a three-dimensional reality and freedom of movement that is liberating and new. The more you know about how the movie was made, the more you respect it.

 

Seeing "Toy Story," I felt some of the same exhilaration I felt during "Who Framed Roger Rabbit." Both movies take apart the universe of cinematic visuals, and put it back together again, allowing us to see in a new way. "Toy Story" is not as inventive in its plotting or as clever in its wit as "Rabbit" or such Disney animated films as "Beauty and the Beast"; it's pretty much a buddy movie transplanted to new terrain. Its best pleasures are for the eyes. But what pleasures they are! Watching the film, I felt I was in at the dawn of a new era of movie animation, which draws on the best of cartoons and reality, creating a world somewhere in between, where space not only bends but snaps, crackles and pops." - Roger Ebert

 

User Opinion

 

"This movie holds a huge spot in my childhood. I actually watched the VHS to this so many times it broke and we had to buy another. I had several Woody and Buzz toys, and I think I probably had most characters in the movie at one point. :PToy Story is a simple buddy film told with so much heart and wit, and the relationship and development of Woody/Buzz really make that something special. I think what helps make them so great is how incredibly realistic their feelings/personalities are. Woody's sense of jealousy and fear of being replaced, to Buzz's initial pride. With that, Pixar crafted the two most believable/ relatable animated characters ever, and it was just made better by Hanks and Allen's great performances.Best animated movie ever. To infinity and beyond" - @Mango

 

The Panda's Haiku

 

Buzz Lightyear is here

 

To Infinity and Beyond!

 

Whoops, crash landing time

 

 

Factoids

 

Placement on Prior Lists

 

2012 - 34, 2013 - 32, 2014 - 23, 2016 - 37, 2018 - 33

 

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, 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, Clint Eastwood - 1,Terry Gilliam - 1, Michel Gondry - 1, Rian Johnson - 1, Terry Jones - 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, Steven Spielberg - 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 - 5, 1960s - 5, 1970s - 4, 1980s - 8, 1990s - 9, 2000s - 13, 2010s - 12

 

 

 

[Plain Old Tele]

21 minutes ago, 4815162342 said:

 

Time to go to Santa Barbara

The context of when I’m headed to Santa

Barbara makes all the difference. 🤔

 

(ie pre- or post-Rattler discovery)

Edited July 20, 2020 by Plain Old Tele

[The Panda]

 

 

"Earn this."

 

About the Movie

 

Synopsis

 

"Opening with the Allied invasion of Normandy on 6 June 1944, members of the 2nd Ranger Battalion under Cpt. Miller fight ashore to secure a beachhead. Amidst the fighting, two brothers are killed in action. Earlier in New Guinea, a third brother is KIA. Their mother, Mrs. Ryan, is to receive all three of the grave telegrams on the same day. The United States Army Chief of Staff, George C. Marshall, is given an opportunity to alleviate some of her grief when he learns of a fourth brother, Private James Ryan, and decides to send out 8 men (Cpt. Miller and select members from 2nd Rangers) to find him and bring him back home to his mother..." - IMDb

 

Its Legacy

 

"Director Steven Spielberg has revisited this narrative-rich era a number of times during his career, alternately exploring the dramatic, adventurous, tragic and even humorous aspects of the age. The filmmaker’s latest effort, Saving Private Ryan, teamed him for a fourth time with cinematographer Janusz Kamiński, who earned Academy, BAFTA and ASC Awards for the stark black-and-white photography he lent to Schindler's List (see AC Jan. ’94), Kamiński has since shot Spielberg’s subsequent films, The Lost World (AC June ’97) and Amistad (AC Jan. ’98). The latter earned the cameraman both Academy and ASC Award nominations.

 

Opening with the most graphic and elaborate film depiction of D-Day to date, the $65 million Private Ryan uses this monumental event as a springboard for its story. Loosely based upon actual WWII cases of families losing four or five sons in battle, the picture follows Captain John Miller (Tom Hanks) as he leads an eight-man squad behind enemy lines and into France to search for the last surviving Ryan brother (Matt Damon), whose three siblings have been reported killed in action. As a squad advances into greater and greater peril, its members — who include Sergeant Horvath (Tom Sizemore), Corporal Upham (Jeremy Davies) Medic Wade (Giovanni Ribisi) and Privates Reiben (Edward Burns), Caparzo (Vin Diesel), Mellish (Adam Goldberg) and Jackson (Barry Pepper) — begin to question the military’s decision to risk eight lives in the hope of saving just one.

 

Saving Private Ryan’s intended pre-production period was severely truncated when Spielberg decided to shoot Amistad after completing The Lost World and before beginning work on the WWII epic. Nevertheless, Kaminski spent two weeks doing camera tests in Los Angeles prior to leaving for England, where most of Ryan would be shot.  Kamiński notes that it's during these tests that he determines the look of a film. “When I read a script and like the story, I respond to it on an emotional level,” says the cinematographer. “I have a concept of who the actors are and where the story is taking us, and I then imagine how I can enhance the storytelling through visuals. The story automatically dictates how I'm going to light it. That may sound simple, but it's not, because it's my personal interpretation of a script that allows me to create the visuals. That interpretation is based on my own life experiences, aesthetics, education and knowledge, all of which help to shape my understanding of a story.

 

Spielberg and Kamiński initially considered rendering Private Ryan monochromatically, as they had previously done on Schindler's List. “Black-and-white was the right choice for that film because of the subject matter and because most of the real footage of Nazi atrocities was photographed in black-and-white,” relates Kamiński. “However, there is a tremendous amount of documentary footage from World War II that was photographed in color. In fact, [renowned director] George Stevens was a combat cameraman and shot a great deal of footage in color. Steven and I really didn't want to shoot Private Ryan in black-and-white, and I think it would have been a little pretentious to do another World War II film that way.  “We also wanted to shoot this picture in color because there is some blood in the film and we wanted to play with the reds, even though we did desaturate the colors through the use of ENR,” Kamiński expands, noting that the use of the special Technicolor process was a key reason to do extensive camera tests. “I knew the movie would have more of a bluish tone to it, and with 70 percent ENR, the color of the blood on the uniforms and the ground was a primary concern. For scenes in which the characters got wounded, we wanted to know how the blood would look on the uniforms and how it would look after they wore those uniforms for a couple of days. Because we were dealing with a World War II drama, the wardrobe was already muted, and since we were shooting in England and Ireland, we had day after day of foggy, rainy climate, which automatically made the light more diffused and the colors more pastel. We therefore compared various levels of ENR, and based on those tests, the special effects department mixed a certain amount of blue into the blood to make it a bit darker than they normally use."

- Christopher Probst, American Society of Cinematography

The Last Great War: Saving Private Ryan

 

From the Filmmaker

 

 

 

Why It's the Greatest

 

Critic Opinion

 

"When soldiers are killed in ''Saving Private Ryan,'' their comrades carefully preserve any messages they left behind. Removed from the corpses of the newly dead, sometimes copied over to hide bloodstains, these writings surely describe some of the fury of combat, the essence of spontaneous courage, the craving for solace, the bizarre routines of wartime existence, the deep loneliness of life on the brink. Steven Spielberg's soberly magnificent new war film, the second such pinnacle in a career of magical versatility, has been made in the same spirit of urgent communication. It is the ultimate devastating letter home.Since the end of World War II and the virtual death of the western, the combat film has disintegrated into a showcase for swagger, cynicism, obscenely overblown violence and hollow, self-serving victories. Now, with stunning efficacy, Mr. Spielberg turns back the clock. He restores passion and meaning to the genre with such whirlwind force that he seems to reimagine it entirely, dazzling with the breadth and intensity of that imagination. No received notions, dramatic or ideological, intrude on this achievement. This film simply looks at war as if war had not been looked at before.  Though the experience it recounts is grueling, the viscerally enthralling ''Saving Private Ryan'' is anything but. As he did in ''Schindler's List,'' Mr. Spielberg uses his preternatural storytelling gifts to personalize the unimaginable, to create instantly empathetic characters and to hold an audience spellbound from the moment the action starts. Though the film essentially begins and ends with staggering, phenomenally agile battle sequences and contains isolated violent tragedies in between, its vision of combat is never allowed to grow numbing. Like the soldiers, viewers are made furiously alive to each new crisis and never free to rest.

 

Among the many epiphanies in ''Saving Private Ryan'' are some especially unforgettable ones: the anguished ordeal of Mr. Davies's map maker and translator in a staircase in the midst of battle; the tranquil pause in a bombed-out French village, to the strains of Edith Piaf; the brisk way the soldiers sift through a pile of dog tags, momentarily forgetting that each one signifies a death. A man driving a tank looks up for a split second before a Molotov cocktail falls on him. Two of the film's principals huddle against sandbags at a critical juncture; and then, suddenly, only one is still breathing.  The sparing use of John Williams's music sustains the tension in scenes, like these, that need no extra emphasis. But ''Saving Private Ryan'' does have a very few false notes. Like the cemetery scenes, the capture of a German soldier takes a turn for the artificial, especially when the man expresses his desperation through broad clowning. But in context, such a jarring touch is actually a relief. It's a reminder that, after all, ''Saving Private Ryan'' is only a movie. Only the finest war movie of our time."

- Janet Maslin, The New York Times

 

User Opinion

 

"I, like many young people had a grandfather that was in the war. I know he faced death many times but I don't know how many times or any of the details of his ordeal in WWII. He wouldn't ever talk about them, not even to my mother or her sister. Sometimes I could never understand that, but now I do. If this is really what it was like to be a soldier, no matter what war you are fighting, then it must be an incredibly difficult ordeal to drudge up memories that are this disturbing, this vivid and this real. I have never been to war and I hope that I never have to experience war, but after seeing this movie I believe I can tell you at least what it may have been like. This movie is that vivid and that honest.The first half an hour of this film is some of the most amazing direction I have seen in any film in my entire life. I have even read that Spielberg toned it down some. That is hard to believe knowing what is up there on screen.This film is brilliant in every capacity. The direction is so clear and crisp that you feel like you know these men when the film is over. You feel like you understand the war a little better than you did before. The acting is terrific." - @baumer

 

The Panda's Haiku

 

One squad member down

 

What is this sacrifice for?

 

To die, to save one?

 

 

Factoids

 

Placement on Prior Lists

 

2012 - 29, 2013 - 67, 2014 - 49, 2016 - 83, 2018 - 22

 

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, Clint Eastwood - 1,Terry Gilliam - 1, Michel Gondry - 1, Rian Johnson - 1, Terry Jones - 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 - 5, 1960s - 5, 1970s - 4, 1980s - 8, 1990s - 10, 2000s - 13, 2010s - 12

 

 

 

Edited July 20, 2020 by The Panda

[Cap]

Terrible movie! Too long! I was in the theater on opening weekend, eleven years old, so excited to see this, and then I had to go to bathroom and mom wouldn’t let me! We just sat there watching them walk for like 45 minutes! Bad film! Didn’t it know I had to pee?!

[charlie Jatinder]

WOAH. Hanks Trifecta.

Run Forrest Run.

[charlie Jatinder]

2 hours ago, Cap said:

I was in the theater on opening weekend, eleven years old

I thought you are in mid 20s. 

[Cap]

12 minutes ago, charlie Jatinder said:

I thought you are in mid 20s. 

I only act young and stupid. 

[The Panda]

Some more of the outsiders

 

 

 

"it's quite fantastic. great atmosphere and photography." - @luna

 

 

 

"I remember loving this movie. Such a great movie with fantastic character and great emotional depth."  - @Kvikk Lunsj

 

 

 

"I saw it last Friday and I love it. It is the most enjoyable SH movie I have seen. For me, it is the best of MCU." - @peludo

 

 

 

 

"After all, Carpenter followed in Hitchcock's steps, maybe director's should follow in his.Halloween personifies everything that scares us. If you are tired of all the mindless horror films that don't know the difference between evil and cuteness, then Halloween is a film that should be seen. It won't let you down. I enjoy being scared, I don't know why, but I do. But nothing has scared me in the 90's, except maybe one film ( Wes Craven's final Nightmare ). If you enjoy beings scared, then Halloween is one that you should see. And if you have already seen it a hundred times, go and watch it again, back to back with a film like Urban Legend. Urban Legend will have you enticed at all the pretty faces in the movie. Halloween will have you frozen with fear, stuck in your seat, not wanting to move. Now tell me, what horror film would you rather watch?And just to follow up after seeing Zombie's version, it makes you appreciate this that much more. This is a classic by definition. Zombie bastardized his version, but it doesn't take away from the brilliance of this one." - @baumer

 

 

 

"I was shocked when Christian Bale showed up and started shouting obscenities at the camera. Something tells me that wasn't part of the script but Nolan kept it in because it came out so well. His decision to end the movie in the middle of the reveal as to whether McConaughey is actually an android or not was shocking. The entire audience groaned at that moment. I also thought that the editing with the hardcore sex scene intercut with a space shuttle launch used as a metaphor was slightly too on the nose, I mean he was just copying Hitchcock. Speaking of Hitchcock, and cock, Nolan's cameo as "Naked space alien #3" was distracting." - @grim22

 

 

[Plain Old Tele]

[DAR]

16 minutes ago, The Panda said:

Some more of the outsiders

 

 

 

 

 

"After all, Carpenter followed in Hitchcock's steps, maybe director's should follow in his.Halloween personifies everything that scares us. If you are tired of all the mindless horror films that don't know the difference between evil and cuteness, then Halloween is a film that should be seen. It won't let you down. I enjoy being scared, I don't know why, but I do. But nothing has scared me in the 90's, except maybe one film ( Wes Craven's final Nightmare ). If you enjoy beings scared, then Halloween is one that you should see. And if you have already seen it a hundred times, go and watch it again, back to back with a film like Urban Legend. Urban Legend will have you enticed at all the pretty faces in the movie. Halloween will have you frozen with fear, stuck in your seat, not wanting to move. Now tell me, what horror film would you rather watch?And just to follow up after seeing Zombie's version, it makes you appreciate this that much more. This is a classic by definition. Zombie bastardized his version, but it doesn't take away from the brilliance of this one." - @baumer