BOT in the Multi-Verse of Madness: Countdown of the DEFINITIVE Top 250 Movies of All-Time (2022 Edition)

BestPicturePlutoNash · August 9, 2022

@The Panda Thank you for running this

Ozymandias · August 9, 2022

Yeah I suspected LotR and one of the SW movies to be 1 and 2.

Though I've always really appreciated the original Star Wars movies, but I never considered myself a huge fan. I think Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy got me into film more than anything else. I was in middle school when Fellowship of the Ring came out and I got completely lost in that world. I saw it and rest of the trilogy about 5 times in the theater and they've all aged beautifully because everything about them is so detailed and eloquent. When the trilogy wrapped up in 2003, I remember walking out of the theater at 4 a.m. in the morning after the midnight premiere feeling sad that it was over. Soon after, I convinced my parents to buy me all 3 books and The Silmarillion(which I'm almost done reading again for the first time since, Beren and Luthien is incredible). I guess you could even say that world got me into reading as well in a way. The Tolkienverse has had a huge impact on me, so much so that I'm increasingly hesitant to watch that Amazon show thats going to be almost entirely fan fiction and even lore altering without actually having any of the language of Tolkien to adapt. I'll probably watch the first few episodes and if its terrible, I'm bowing out real quick lol.

Cap · August 9, 2022

19 minutes ago, Plain Old Tele said:

God they all seem pretty dire, lmao

The Old Farts List isn’t. 🥳

And thank you @The Panda always always; a fun fun show!

CaptNathanBrittles · August 9, 2022

It wasn't even close points wise between FOTR and ESB.

Dementeleus · August 9, 2022

24 minutes ago, Cap said:

The Old Farts List isn’t. 🥳

It kinda is 😵‍💫

ZeeSoh · August 10, 2022

Thanks @The Panda For running the list so well and making it so detailed with all the stats.

Very happy to see all the LoTR movies improving on their rankings. The best movie trilogy got what it deserved.

Fancyarcher · August 10, 2022

A pretty standard top 10 if I'm being honest, but Spirited Away being at #5 is pretty dang excellent. A well-done list and job @The Panda.

Blankments · August 10, 2022

Here is the annual letterboxd list! (I'm not gonna make the subset lists, sorry )

THUNDER BIRD · August 10, 2022

4 hours ago, Cap said:

The Old Farts List isn’t. 🥳

By far the worst.

The Panda · August 10, 2022

In case y'all want another reason to join the telegram, we revealed the list of all the Telegram user community. @IronJimbo would be ecstatic about the top choice

The Telegram List

Spoiler

1. Titanic (1997, James Cameron)

2. GoodFellas (1990, Martin Scorsese)

3. The Godfather (1972, Francis Ford Copoola)

4. Back to the Future (1985, Robert Zemeckis)

5. The Empire Strikes Back (1980, Irvin Kershner)

6. Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001, Peter Jackson)

7. Jaws (1975, Steven Spielberg)

8. Casablanca (1942, Michael Curtiz)

9. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981, Steven Spielberg)

10. Schindler’s List (1993, Steven Spielberg)

11. Heat (1995, Michael Mann)

12. The Matrix (1999, Lana and Lilly Wachowski)

13. Spirited Away (2001, Hayao Miyazaki)

14. Lawrence of Arabia (1962, David Lean)

15. Jurassic Park (1993, Steven Spielberg)

16. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003, Peter Jackson)

17. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975, Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones)

18. The Dark Knight (2008, Christopher Nolan)

19. Do the Right Thing (1989, Spike Lee)

20. Alien (1979, Ridley Scott)

21. Beauty and the Beast (1991, Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise)

22. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015, George Miller)

23. Vertigo (1958, Alfred Hitchcock)

24. Star Wars (1977, George Lucas)

25. Taxi Driver (1976, Martin Scorsese)

26. Singin’ in the Rain (1952, Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen)

27. 12 Angry Men (1957, William Friedkin)

28. Inception (2010, Christopher Nolan)

29. Apocalypse Now (1979, Francis Ford Coppola)

30. Citizen Kane (1941, Orson Welles)

31. The Godfather Part II (1974, Francis Ford Coppola)

32. Ratatouille (2007, Brad Bird)

33. Dr Strangelove: or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964, Stanley Kubrick)

34. Parasite (2019, Bong Joon-Ho)

35. Silence (2017, Martin Scorsese)

36. Coco (2017, Adrian Molina and Lee Unkrich)

37. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982, Steven Spielberg)

38. Seven Samurai (1954, Akira Kurosawa)

39. The Incredibles (2004, Brad Bird)

40. Toy Story (1996, John Lasseter)

41. Wall-E (2008, Andrew Stanton)

42. The Shining (1980, Stanley Kubrick)

43. Akira (1988, Katsuhiro Otomo)

44. The Social Network (2010, David Fincher)

45. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946, Frank Capra)

46. Magnolia (1999, Paul Thomas Anderson)

47. Mulholland Drive (2001, David Lynch)

48. T2: Judgement Day (1991, James Cameron)

49. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968, Stanley Kubrick)

50. Rear Window (1954, Alfred Hitchcock)

51. Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017, Rian Johnson)

52. Once Upon a Time in the West (1968, Sergio Leone)

53. Before Sunrise (1995, Richard Linklater)

54. Your Name (2016, Makoto Shinkai)

55. Princess Mononoke (1997, Hayao Miyazaki)

56. The Apartment (1960, Billy Wilder)

57. The Shawshank Redemption (1994, Frank Darabont)

58. Pulp Fiction (1994, Quentin Tarantino)

59. The Truman Show (1998, Peter Weir)

60. The Wizard of Oz (1939, Victor Fleming)

61. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002, Peter Jackson)

62. Aladdin (2019, Guy Ritchie)

63. The Silence of the Lambs (1991, Jonathan Demme)

64. Blazing Saddles (1974, Mel Brooks)

65. Memento (2000, Christopher Nolan)

66. Inside Out (2015, Pete Doctor)

67. The Prince of Egypt (1998, Brenda Chapman and Steve Hickner)

68. Nashville (1975, Robert Altman)

69. Senna (2010, Asif Kapadia)

70. Rashomon (1950, Akira Kurosawa)

71. The Prestige (2006, Christopher Nolan)

72. Whisper of the Heart (1995, Yoshhifumi Kondo)

73. The Matrix Reloaded (2003, Lilly and Lana Wachowski)

74. Fargo (1996, Joel and Ethan Coen)

75. Malcolm X (1992, Spike Lee)

76. The 400 Blows (1959, Francois Truffaut)

77. Sunset Boulevard (1950, Billy Wilder)

78. In the Mood for Love (2000, Wong Kar-wai)

79. Psycho (1960, Alfred Hitchcock)

80. Before Sunset (2004, Richard Linklater)

81. Get Out (2017, Jordan Peele)

82. Interstellar (2014, Christopher Nolan)

83. Halloween (1978, John Carpenter)

84. A.I. Artificial intelligence (2001, Steven Spielberg)

85. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018, Ramsey, Persichetti, and Rothman)

86. Some Like it Hot (1959, Billy Wilder)

87. Duck Soup (1933, Leo McCarey)

88. North by Northwest (1959, Alfred Hitchcock)

89. The Sixth Sense (1999, M. Night Shyamalan)

90. Pan’s Labyrinth (2006, Guilermo del Torro)

91. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003, Peter Weir)

92. The Exorcist (1973, William Friedkin)

93. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004, Michel Gondry)

94. Oldboy (2003, Park Chan-wook)

95. Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009, Wes Anderson)

96. Bicycle Thieves (1948, Vittorio de Sica)

97. The Age of Innocence (1993, Martin Scorsese)

98. Dazed and Confused (1993, Richard Linklater)

99. Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014, The Russos)

100. The Lion King (1994, Rob Minkoff and Roger Allers)

101. Toy Story 2 (1999, John Lasseter)

102. Aliens (1986, James Cameron)

103. Bambi (1942, Committee)

104. Se7en (1995, David Fincher)

105. Ocean’s Eleven (2001, Steven Soderbergh)

106. Spider-Man 2 (2004, Sam Raimi)

107. Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988, Robert Zemeckis)

108. Lady Bird (2017, Greta Gerwig)

109. The Handmaiden (2016, Park Chan-Wook)

110. A Knight’s Tale (2001, Brian Helgeland)

111. All That Jazz (1979, Bob Fosse)

112. When Harry Met Sally… (1989, Rob Reiner)

113. My Neighbor Totoro (1993, Hayao Miyazaki)

114. Dunkirk (2017, Christopher Nolan)

115. The Dark Knight Rises (2012, Christopher Nolan)

116. The Great Escape (1963, John Sturges)

117. The Iron Giant (1999, Brad Bird)

118. The Princess Bride (1987, Rob Reiner)

119. The Big Lebowski (1998, Joel and Ethan Coen)

120. The Thing (1982, John Carpenter)

121. The Blair Witch Project (1999, Eduardo Sanchez and Daniel Myrick)

122. Ran (1985, Akira Kurosawa)

123. A Star is Born (1954, George Cukor)

124. The Manchurian Candidate (1962, John Frankenheimer)

125. Paddington 2 (2018, Paul King)

126. The Untouchables (1987, Brian DePalma)

127. Gladiator (2000, Ridley Scott)

128. Face/Off (1997, John Woo)

129. Die Hard (1988, John McTiernan)

130. Casino Royale (2006, Martin Campbell)

131. Cabaret (1972, Bob Fosse)

132. Blade Runner (1982, Ridley Scott)

133. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989, Steven Spielberg)

134. Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989, Hayao Miyazaki)

135. The LEGO Movie (2014, Phil Lord and Chris Miller)

136. Shrek (2001, Adamson and Jenson)

137. Hard Boiled (1992, John Woo)

138. Belle (2021, Mamoru Hosoda)

139. The Departed (2006, Martin Scorsese)

140. Eyes Wide Shut (1999, Stanley Kubrick)

141. The Third Man (1949, Carol Reed)

142. Arsenic and the Old Lace (1944, Frank Capra)

143. The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967, Jacques Demy)

144. The Elephant Man (1980, David Lynch)

145. Saving Private Ryan (1998, Steven Spielberg)

146. Rocky (1976, John G. Avildsen)

147. Ferris Beuller’s Day Off (1986, John Hughes)

148. Life of Pi (2012, Ang Lee)

149. Finding Nemo (2003, Andrew Stanton)

150. Ikiru (1952, Akira Kurosawa)

151. All About Eve (1951, Joseph L. Mankiewicz)

152. Grave of the Fireflies (1988, Isao Takahata)

153. Harakiri (1962, Masaki Kobayashi)

154. Life of Brian (1979, Terry Jones)

155. Manchester by the Sea (2016, Kenneth Lonergan)

156. Good Will Hunting (1997, Gus Van Sant)

157. Unforgiven (1992, Clint Eastwood)

158. Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019, Celine Sciamma)

159. The Italian Job (1969, Peter Collinson)

160. Tenet (2020, Christopher Nolan)

161. Cruel Intentions (1999, Roger Kumble)

162. The Black Stallion (1979, Carroll Ballard)

163. Au Hasard Balthasar (1966, Robert Bresson)

164. Clueless (1995, Amy Heckerling)

165. The Searchers (1956, John Ford)

166. Joint Security Area (2000, Park Chan-wook)

167. Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003, Nikkhil Advani)

168. The Last Temptation of Christ (1988, Martin Scorsese)

169. Avatar (2009, James Cameron)

170. Wild Strawberries (1957, Ingmar Bergman)

171. The Emperor’s New Groove (2000, Mark Dindal)

172. The Wolf of Wall Street (2013, Martin Scorsese)

173. Raging Bull (1980, Martin Scorsese)

174. Gravity (2013, Alfonso Cuaron)

175. Stalker (1979, Andrei Tarkovsky)

176. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957, David Lean)

177. Margaret (2011, Kenneth Lonergan)

178. Ocean’s Twelve (2004, Steven Soderbergh)

179. India Song (1975, Marguerite Duras)

180. Avengers: Endgame (2019, The Russos)

181. Avengers: Infinity War (2018, The Russos)

182. Chariots of Fire (1981, Hugh Hudson)

183. Toni Erdmann (2016, Maren Ade)

184. Jeanne Dielman 23, Quai du Commerce 1080 Bruxelles (1975, Chantal Akerman)

185. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (2006, Gore Verbinski)

186. City of God (2002, Katia Lund and Fernando Merielles)

187. Apollo 13 (1995, Ron Howard)

188. Whiplash (2013, Damien Jiizelle)

189. Amadeus (1984, Milos Forman)

190. Inglourious Basterds (2009, Quentin Tarantino)

191. 1917 (2019, Sam Mendes)

192. Chinatown (1974, Roman Polanski)

193. The Farewell (2019, Lulu Wang)

194. Before Midnight (2013, Richard Linklater)

195. Call Me By Your Name (2017, Luca Guadagnino)

196. Almost Famous (2000, Cameron Crowe)

197. The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly (1966, Sergio Leone)

198. The Big Short (2015, Adam McKay)

199. The Martian (2015, Ridley Scott)

200. The Terminator (1984, James Cameron)

201. The Right Stuff (1983, Philip Kaufman)

202. Guardians of the Galaxy (2014, James Gunn)

203. The Killer (1988, John Woo)

204. Blue Velvet (1988, David Lynch)

205. Amelie (2001, Jean-Pierre Jeunuet)

206. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (2011, David Yates)

207. Fiddler on the Roof (1971, Norman Jewison)

208. Notorious (1946, Alfred Hitchcock)

209. Innocence (2020, Park Sang-hyun)

210. Body Double (1984, Brian DePalma)

211. Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (2005, Park Chan-Wook)

212. She’s Gotta Have It (1986, Spike Lee)

213. Young Adult (2011, Jason Reitman)

214. Catch Me if You Can (2002, Steven Spielberg)

215. Persepolis (2007, Olivier Bernet)

216. Gremlins (1984, Joe Dante)

217. Scream (1996, Wes Craven)

218. Zodiac (2007, David Fincher)

219. Short Term 12 (2013, Destin Daniel Cretton)

220. If Beale Street Could Talk (2018, Barry Jenkins)

221. Moulin Rouge! (2001, Baz Luhrmann)

222. Coming to America (1988, John Landis)

223. Touch of Evil (1958, Orson Welles)

224. Superbad (2007, Greg Mottola)

225. Under the Silver Lake (2018, David Robert Mitchell)

226. Juno (2007, Jason Reitman)

227. Mary Poppins (1964, Robert Stevenson)

228. Frozen (2013, Jennifer Lee)

229. Only Angels Have Wings (1939, Howard Hawks)

230. Dune (2021, Denis Villeneuve)

231. There Will Be Blood (2007, Paul Thomas Anderson)

232. Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl (2003, Gore Verbinski)

233. Up (2009, Pete Docter)

234. Pinocchio (1940, Committee)

235. Hot Fuzz (2007, Edgar Wright)

236. Airplane! (1980, Zuckers and Abrahams)

237. The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975, Jim Sharman)

238. Little Women (2019, Greta Gerwig)

239. Children of Men (2006, Alfonso Cuaron)

240. The Conversation (1974, Francis Ford Coppola)

241. The Thin Red Line (1988, Terrence Malick)

242. Creed (2015, Ryan Coogler)

243. 8 ½ (1963, Federico Fellini)

244. 22 Jump Street (2014, Phil Lord and Chris Miller)

245. Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015, JJ Abrams)

246. South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut (1999, Trey Parker)

247. Stop Making Sense (1999, Jonathan Demme)

248. Dog Day Afternoon (1975, Sidney Lumet)

249. Jojo Rabbit (2019, Taika Waititi)

250. Fanny and Alexander (1982, Ingmar Bergman)

THUNDER BIRD · August 10, 2022

32 minutes ago, The Panda said:

167. Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003, Nikkhil Advani)

Is that you @charlie Jatinder

SchumacherFTW · August 10, 2022

The Telegram list is the only place that Senna performed acceptably. Too many of you sleeping on that masterpiece

JustLurking · August 10, 2022

Ironically Fellowship is probably my least favorite of the 3 films, but the whole trilogy is just so damn epic. I must've lost count of the amount of times I have seen it through the years, and I still love to watch it. I just hope the amazon series can capture even half of that magic.

Ipickthiswhiterose · August 10, 2022

Thanks for Panda for this fantastic achievement and commitment.

Kalo · August 10, 2022

On 8/1/2022 at 12:34 PM, The Panda said:

We're playing with the big boys now!

Number 77

"I will never let your people go!"

About the Film

Synopsis

"This is the extraordinary tale of two brothers named Moses and Ramses, one born of royal blood, and one an orphan with a secret past. Growing up the best of friends, they share a strong bond of free-spirited youth and good-natured rivalry. But the truth will ultimately set them at odds, as one becomes the ruler of the most powerful empire on earth, and the other the chosen leader of his people! Their final confrontation will forever change their lives and the world."

Its Legacy

"One example of an effective partnership between the music and film divisions of a media company is the campaign that surrounded the animated film, The PRINCE of Egypt (1998). The entertainment company at the heart of the campaign was the relative newcomer DreamWorks whose founding partners included movie mogul Steven Spielberg, music executive David Geffen and former Disney executive, Jeffrey Katzenberg. Their vision was to create a true entertainment company that blurred the lines between film, music and television.An animated film based on the biblical story of Moses, The PRINCE of Egypt was a Disney-style musical similar to Aladdin (1992), Beauty and the Beast (1991), and The Little Mermaid (1989). The songs in the film were sung by the actors that provided the voices for the film’s characters, and were produced in an orchestral style similar to that used for the instrumental score. DreamWorks’ strategy for marketing The PRINCE of Egypt relied heavily on music. Far more than using music within a diegetic or non-diegetic context, DreamWorks developed a multi-level marketing campaign featuring no less than three full-length audio recordings, each playing a very strategic marketing role: 1) The PRINCE of Egypt-The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, 2) The PRINCE of Egypt-Nashville, and 3) The PRINCE of Egypt-Inspirational. While releasing three soundtracks for a film was certainly unprecedented, what was truly groundbreaking was that the majority of the songs included on the recordings were not even used in the film itself but were simply “inspired by” the story.

DreamWorks sought to maximize this avenue of promotion for The PRINCE of Egypt by creating radio singles for multiple formats including Top Forty, Country, and Christian. These radio singles helped prepare the way for thetheatrical release of the film, most notably “When You Believe”, produced as a duet featuring Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey which charted in the US among the top 15 on Billboard’s Top 100 chart and also went on to win an Academy Awardfor “Best Original Song”. DreamWorks anticipated a broad potential audience for The PRINCE of Egypt. By creating multiple themed soundtracks they segmented the market by targeting various audiences with songs and artists that catered to the taste of each segment.The PRINCE of Egypt-Inspirational was created to target Christian audiences in general and more specifically African-American Christians. Similarly, The PRINCE of Egypt-Nashville targeted country music fans. Involvement of high profile recording artists such as Faith Hill, Trin-I-Tee 5:7, Kirk Franklin, Amy Grant, and Toby Keith helped DreamWorks engage each artist’s fan base and drew media attention from publications not typically associated with animated films.

Since the release of The PRINCE of Egypt conditions within the film and music industry have undergone dramatic changes. This is particularly true for the music industry which experienced a dramatic drop in sales over the last decade with revenue falling from $14.3 billion in 2000 to only $7.7 billion in 2009 (Facts & Figures: Key Statistics, 2010). Record labels desperate to make up for the loss of CD revenue look to licensing to help fill in the gap. In the 1950s, filmmakers turned to a thriving musicindustry looking for ways to drive more people into the theaters. Today, music companies are turning to a thriving film industry hoping to gain much-needed revenue from licensing income and broader exposure to viewers who have switched off their radios.“Without question, getting songs into film, TV and advertising is more important than ever before for many reasons including increased revenue from sync uses, exposure in multiple places to potential new listeners and buyers, and association with top brands including films, actors, and products,” says Terry Hemmings, President of Provident Music Group, a division of Sony Entertainment that produces both music and films (Hemmings, 2010).Many media giants, including Sony, have created what is called a “synergy department” specifically tasked with making sure various entertainment divisions are taking advantage of in-house resources. Music, film, television, and videogame divisions are kept up-to-date on various licensing opportunities and songs are pitched internallywith priority attention going to assets owned by the parent company."

- Dean Diehl, Journal of Arts and Humanities

From the Filmmaker

Why It's Great

Critic Opinion

"Last month, London saw the premiere of “The Prince of Egypt,” a musical based on the eponymous animated film that came out in 1998. The DreamWorks picture tells the story of the Book of Exodus, and depicts Moses as an Egyptian prince who discovers his Hebrew roots, flees the palace and returns to deliver the enslaved Hebrews to the promised land. The story is almost entirely set in ancient Egypt, but the film was never released in contemporary Egypt. The Egyptian government banned it for its portrayal of a prophet, often considered forbidden in Islam. But perhaps more significantly, the movie outraged several Egyptians who believed it misrepresented ancient Egyptian history. Similar concerns were the reason for the Egyptian ban of the 2014 motion picture “Exodus.” Nonetheless, “The Prince of Egypt” is, in many ways, demonstrably inspired by Egyptian material culture. Here’s an Egyptologist’s breakdown of selected aspects of the film.

Sure enough, the film takes liberties with biblical and pharaonic history. In the Book of Exodus, the pharaoh is never mentioned by name, but the film identifies him as the historical king Ramesses II. The film thus implicitly dates the story to around 1250 BCE.

Moses and Ramesses are seen growing up during the reign of Ramesses´ father, king Seti I. Seti I´s facial features even bear some resemblance to the king’s actual appearance, preserved in his mummified body.

Perhaps most contested is the depiction of the Hebrew slaves. There is archaeological evidence for “Canaanites” or “Asiatics” (Levantines) in Egypt, but not much is known about them and they were certainly not all slaves in the modern sense of the word. Still, various forms of corvée, forced labour, and slavery existed in ancient Egypt. To underscore the theme of unbearable slave labour, the film often grossly exaggerates the dimensions of Egyptian statues and buildings. Building techniques in the film are based on archaeological evidence. Slaves are producing mudbrick and carry loads of building material, while overseers strike them with whips. A very similar sequence is depicted in the tomb of Rekhmire, in which workmen use baskets instead of sacks and overseers have sticks rather than whips.

Whether DreamWorks deliberately wanted to mislead audiences about Egyptian history is a different debate. From an Egyptologist’s point of view, however, it transpires that the creators had a real love for the material culture of ancient Egypt. Their recreation of life during the time of Ramesses is more often accurate than not. That is much more than can be said of movies such as “Gods of Egypt” (2016) and “The Mummy” (2017). They are every Egyptologist’s worst nightmare in terms of historical accuracy, yet were released in Egypt without any fuss. Much more historical scholarship went into the making of “The Prince of Egypt,” and it deserves to be revisited."

- Daniel Soliman, Universiteit Leiden

Public Opinion

"From an animation history perspective, The Prince of Egypt is something of a minor miracle, given the circumstances it was born into — It was a time where traditional animation began facing difficulties as the new era of CG animation had just dawned; even a 2D animation titan like Disney was becoming more and more cautious, and every other animation studio in the business were desperately copying Disney in order to evade financial starvation — even if the most successful of them like Anastasia turned a modest profit at best.

It's especially impressive because Dreamworks Animation was from its inception a very cynical venture; Jeffrey Katzenberg, a man few would deny had an ego the size of a mountain, had been fired from Disney four years prior, and together with Steven Spielberg and David Geffen had founded Dreamworks SKG, with Katzenberg taking the reigns of its animation house. Katzenberg seemed set to spite Disney at every turn, and the studio's first major feature Antz, which had bowed just months prior to Egypt, was pretty clearly trying to outdo A Bug's Life. Regardless of how one sees Antz as a film in of itself, it was a prelude to the cynicism and strive for in-the-moment relevance — future legacy be damned — that would define Dreamworks throughout a lot of the 2000s.

Prince of Egypt is the opposite of Antz in almost every way. First of all, it's an adaptation of a timeless story — one that admittedly had been done close to death even in the 1990s, but never in animated form on that scale — and second, it showcases such care for its characters, themes, visual artistry and music that you'd be forgiven for thinking it's one of the Disney Renaissance staples. What separates Egypt from those films however is its boldness, taking artistic and creative risks no other major studio animated film would do at the time,"

- @cookie

The AI's Poetic Opinion

the prince of egypt

"A brave and noble prince
He fought for his people's freedom
God chose him well"

- dA vInci

Factoids

Previous Rankings

UNRANKED (2020, 2018, 2016, 2014, 2013, 2012)

Director Count

Paul Thomas Anderson (1), John G. Avildsen (1), James Cameron (1), Charlie Chaplin (1), Brenda Chapman (1), Joel Coen (1), Wes Craven (1), Clint Eastwood (1), William Friedkin (1), Spike Lee (1), Steve Hickner (1), Richard Linklater (1), Katia Lund (1), Fernando Meirelles (1), Hayao Miyazaki (1), Christopher Nolan (1), Katsuhiro Otomo (1), The Russos (1), Martin Scorsese (1), Ridley Scott (1), Vittorio de Sica (1), Andrew Stanton (1), Isao Takahata (1), Lee Unkrich (1), Gore Verbinski (1), Peter Weir (1), Simon Wells (1), Robert Zemeckis (1)

Decade Count

1930s (1), 1940s (1), 1970s (2), 1980s (4), 1990s (6), 2000s (7), 2010s (2)

Franchise Count

Avatar (1), Before (1), Blade Runner (1), The Exorcist (1), Finding Nemo (1), The MCU (1), Pirates of the Caribbean (1), Rocky (1), Scream (1)

Re-Weighted Placements

#82 Fanboy Ranking, #83 Cinema Ranking

#165 Old Farts Ranking, #65 Damn Kids Ranking

#67 Ambassador Ranking, #82 All-American Ranking

#92 Cartoon Ranking, #85 Damn Boomer Ranking

WOW it made it! first time to. I guess there can be miracles when you believe.

Kalo · August 10, 2022

On 8/2/2022 at 3:13 PM, The Panda said:

welp...

Number 67

"Noobmaster, hey, it's Thor again."

About the Film

Synopsis

"The Avengers assemble and do some silly comic book shenanigans and shit."

Its Legacy

"When I was in England in early October, I gave an interview to Empire magazine. I was asked a question about Marvel movies. I answered it. I said that I’ve tried to watch a few of them and that they’re not for me, that they seem to me to be closer to theme parks than they are to movies as I’ve known and loved them throughout my life, and that in the end, I don’t think they’re cinema. Some people seem to have seized on the last part of my answer as insulting, or as evidence of hatred for Marvel on my part. If anyone is intent on characterizing my words in that light, there’s nothing I can do to stand in the way. Many franchise films are made by people of considerable talent and artistry. You can see it on the screen. The fact that the films themselves don’t interest me is a matter of personal taste and temperament. I know that if I were younger, if I’d come of age at a later time, I might have been excited by these pictures and maybe even wanted to make one myself. But I grew up when I did and I developed a sense of movies — of what they were and what they could be — that was as far from the Marvel universe as we on Earth are from Alpha Centauri.

For me, for the filmmakers I came to love and respect, for my friends who started making movies around the same time that I did, cinema was about revelation — aesthetic, emotional and spiritual revelation. It was about characters — the complexity of people and their contradictory and sometimes paradoxical natures, the way they can hurt one another and love one another and suddenly come face to face with themselves. It was about confronting the unexpected on the screen and in the life it dramatized and interpreted, and enlarging the sense of what was possible in the art form.

Some say that Hitchcock’s pictures had a sameness to them, and perhaps that’s true — Hitchcock himself wondered about it. But the sameness of today’s franchise pictures is something else again. Many of the elements that define cinema as I know it are there in Marvel pictures. What’s not there is revelation, mystery or genuine emotional danger. Nothing is at risk. The pictures are made to satisfy a specific set of demands, and they are designed as variations on a finite number of themes. They are sequels in name but they are remakes in spirit, and everything in them is officially sanctioned because it can’t really be any other way. That’s the nature of modern film franchises: market-researched, audience-tested, vetted, modified, revetted and remodified until they’re ready for consumption.

So, you might ask, what’s my problem? Why not just let superhero films and other franchise films be? The reason is simple. In many places around this country and around the world, franchise films are now your primary choice if you want to see something on the big screen. It’s a perilous time in film exhibition, and there are fewer independent theaters than ever. The equation has flipped and streaming has become the primary delivery system. Still, I don’t know a single filmmaker who doesn’t want to design films for the big screen, to be projected before audiences in theaters. That includes me, and I’m speaking as someone who just completed a picture for Netflix. It, and it alone, allowed us to make “The Irishman” the way we needed to, and for that I’ll always be thankful. We have a theatrical window, which is great. Would I like the picture to play on more big screens for longer periods of time? Of course I would. But no matter whom you make your movie with, the fact is that the screens in most multiplexes are crowded with franchise pictures.

In the past 20 years, as we all know, the movie business has changed on all fronts. But the most ominous change has happened stealthily and under cover of night: the gradual but steady elimination of risk. Many films today are perfect products manufactured for immediate consumption. Many of them are well made by teams of talented individuals. All the same, they lack something essential to cinema: the unifying vision of an individual artist. Because, of course, the individual artist is the riskiest factor of all. I’m certainly not implying that movies should be a subsidized art form, or that they ever were. When the Hollywood studio system was still alive and well, the tension between the artists and the people who ran the business was constant and intense, but it was a productive tension that gave us some of the greatest films ever made — in the words of Bob Dylan, the best of them were “heroic and visionary."

Today, that tension is gone, and there are some in the business with absolute indifference to the very question of art and an attitude toward the history of cinema that is both dismissive and proprietary — a lethal combination. The situation, sadly, is that we now have two separate fields: There’s worldwide audiovisual entertainment, and there’s cinema. They still overlap from time to time, but that’s becoming increasingly rare. And I fear that the financial dominance of one is being used to marginalize and even belittle the existence of the other. For anyone who dreams of making movies or who is just starting out, the situation at this moment is brutal and inhospitable to art. And the act of simply writing those words fills me with terrible sadness."

- Martin Scorsese, I Said Marvel Movies Aren't Cinema. Let Me Explain. (2019)

From the Filmmaker

Why It's Great

Critic Opinion

Public Opinion

"End of an era. There was a thunderous applause at the end. WOM is gonna be throught the roof, the ending is so emotional, everyone was crying so much. The perfect blockbuster. The perfect end to the MCU." - @CJohn

The AI's Poetic Opinion

avengers: endgame

"The end is near
Who will survive?
Only time will tell"

- dA vInci

Factoids

Previous Rankings

#76 (2020), NA (2018, 2016, 2014, 2013, 2012)

Director Count

James Cameron (2), David Fincher (2), Christopher Nolan (2), The Russos (2), Paul Thomas Anderson (1), John G. Avildsen (1), Brad Bird (1), Charlie Chaplin (1), Brenda Chapman (1), Joel Coen (1), Wes Craven (1), Clint Eastwood (1), William Friedkin (1), Spike Lee (1), Michel Gondry (1), Steve Hickner (1), Richard Linklater (1), Katia Lund (1), Richard Marquand (1), Fernando Meirelles (1), Hayao Miyazaki (1), Katsuhiro Otomo (1), Martin Scorsese (1), Ridley Scott (1), Vittorio de Sica (1), Steven Spielberg (1), Andrew Stanton (1), Isao Takahata (1), Lee Unkrich (1), Gore Verbinski (1), Peter Weir (1), Simon Wells (1), Kar-Wai Wong (1), Robert Zemeckis (1)

Decade Count

1930s (1), 1940s (1), 1970s (2), 1980s (6), 1990s (7), 2000s (12), 2010s (4)

Country Count

Japan (3), Brazil (1), China (1), Italy (1)

Franchise Count

The MCU (2), Alien (1), Avatar (1), Before (1), Blade Runner (1), The Exorcist (1), Finding Nemo (1), Incredibles (1), Pirates of the Caribbean (1), Rocky (1), Scream (1), Star Wars (1)

Re-Weighted Placements

#36 Fanboy Ranking, #99 Cinema Ranking

#84 Old Farts Ranking, #68 Damn Kids Ranking

#257 Ambassador Ranking, #59 All-American Ranking

#77 Cartoon Ranking, #66 Damn Boomer Ranking

Ok, so you hate superhero films. but why use one's review, that is criticising the superhero genre for a film that is near-universally loved? by a man, who hates the genre. leaves no room to actually review the film if the critic is already so biased against it, I don't even disagree with all the points he makes. and is probably true for most middling efforts. but it's kind of a disservice to the fans who love it. IMO it's the best Superhero film every made. and alot of people agree with me. I think you put a ton of work into this and I greatly applaud you for that. but maybe try not to be so biased in your countdowns in the future. unless it's a section giving your own opinion.

Lucas · August 10, 2022

Don't stop doing what you're doing the way you've been doing it. Thanks for the list, Panda.

Tower · August 10, 2022

12 hours ago, The Panda said:

In case y'all want another reason to join the telegram, we revealed the list of all the Telegram user community. @IronJimbo would be ecstatic about the top choice

The Telegram List

Hide contents

1.       Titanic (1997, James Cameron)

2.       GoodFellas (1990, Martin Scorsese)

3.       The Godfather (1972, Francis Ford Copoola)

4.       Back to the Future (1985, Robert Zemeckis)

5.       The Empire Strikes Back (1980, Irvin Kershner)

6.       Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001, Peter Jackson)

7.       Jaws (1975, Steven Spielberg)

8.       Casablanca (1942, Michael Curtiz)

9.       Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981, Steven Spielberg)

10.   Schindler’s List (1993, Steven Spielberg)

11.   Heat (1995, Michael Mann)

12.   The Matrix (1999, Lana and Lilly Wachowski)

13.   Spirited Away (2001, Hayao Miyazaki)

14.   Lawrence of Arabia (1962, David Lean)

15.   Jurassic Park (1993, Steven Spielberg)

16.   The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003, Peter Jackson)

17.   Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975, Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones)

18.   The Dark Knight (2008, Christopher Nolan)

19.   Do the Right Thing (1989, Spike Lee)

20.   Alien (1979, Ridley Scott)

21.   Beauty and the Beast (1991, Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise)

22.   Mad Max: Fury Road (2015, George Miller)

23.   Vertigo (1958, Alfred Hitchcock)

24.   Star Wars (1977, George Lucas)

25.   Taxi Driver (1976, Martin Scorsese)

26.   Singin’ in the Rain (1952, Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen)

27.   12 Angry Men (1957, William Friedkin)

28.   Inception (2010, Christopher Nolan)

29.   Apocalypse Now (1979, Francis Ford Coppola)

30.   Citizen Kane (1941, Orson Welles)

31.   The Godfather Part II (1974, Francis Ford Coppola)

32.   Ratatouille (2007, Brad Bird)

33.   Dr Strangelove: or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964, Stanley Kubrick)

34.   Parasite (2019, Bong Joon-Ho)

35.   Silence (2017, Martin Scorsese)

36.   Coco (2017, Adrian Molina and Lee Unkrich)

37.   E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982, Steven Spielberg)

38.   Seven Samurai (1954, Akira Kurosawa)

39.   The Incredibles (2004, Brad Bird)

40.   Toy Story (1996, John Lasseter)

41.   Wall-E (2008, Andrew Stanton)

42.   The Shining (1980, Stanley Kubrick)

43.   Akira (1988, Katsuhiro Otomo)

44.   The Social Network (2010, David Fincher)

45.   It’s a Wonderful Life (1946, Frank Capra)

46.   Magnolia (1999, Paul Thomas Anderson)

47.   Mulholland Drive (2001, David Lynch)

48.   T2: Judgement Day (1991, James Cameron)

49.   2001: A Space Odyssey (1968, Stanley Kubrick)

50.   Rear Window (1954, Alfred Hitchcock)

51.   Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017, Rian Johnson)

52.   Once Upon a Time in the West (1968, Sergio Leone)

53.   Before Sunrise (1995, Richard Linklater)

54.   Your Name (2016, Makoto Shinkai)

55.   Princess Mononoke (1997, Hayao Miyazaki)

56.   The Apartment (1960, Billy Wilder)

57.   The Shawshank Redemption (1994, Frank Darabont)

58.   Pulp Fiction (1994, Quentin Tarantino)

59.   The Truman Show (1998, Peter Weir)

60.   The Wizard of Oz (1939, Victor Fleming)

61.   The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002, Peter Jackson)

62.   Aladdin (2019, Guy Ritchie)

63.   The Silence of the Lambs (1991, Jonathan Demme)

64.   Blazing Saddles (1974, Mel Brooks)

65.   Memento (2000, Christopher Nolan)

66.   Inside Out (2015, Pete Doctor)

67.   The Prince of Egypt (1998, Brenda Chapman and Steve Hickner)

68.   Nashville (1975, Robert Altman)

69.   Senna (2010, Asif Kapadia)

70.   Rashomon (1950, Akira Kurosawa)

71.   The Prestige (2006, Christopher Nolan)

72.   Whisper of the Heart (1995, Yoshhifumi Kondo)

73.   The Matrix Reloaded (2003, Lilly and Lana Wachowski)

74.   Fargo (1996, Joel and Ethan Coen)

75.   Malcolm X (1992, Spike Lee)

76.   The 400 Blows (1959, Francois Truffaut)

77.   Sunset Boulevard (1950, Billy Wilder)

78.   In the Mood for Love (2000, Wong Kar-wai)

79.   Psycho (1960, Alfred Hitchcock)

80.   Before Sunset (2004, Richard Linklater)

81.   Get Out (2017, Jordan Peele)

82.   Interstellar (2014, Christopher Nolan)

83.   Halloween (1978, John Carpenter)

84.   A.I. Artificial intelligence (2001, Steven Spielberg)

85.   Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018, Ramsey, Persichetti, and Rothman)

86.   Some Like it Hot (1959, Billy Wilder)

87.   Duck Soup (1933, Leo McCarey)

88.   North by Northwest (1959, Alfred Hitchcock)

89.   The Sixth Sense (1999, M. Night Shyamalan)

90.   Pan’s Labyrinth (2006, Guilermo del Torro)

91.   Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003, Peter Weir)

92.   The Exorcist (1973, William Friedkin)

93.   Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004, Michel Gondry)

94.   Oldboy (2003, Park Chan-wook)

95.   Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009, Wes Anderson)

96.   Bicycle Thieves (1948, Vittorio de Sica)

97.   The Age of Innocence (1993, Martin Scorsese)

98.   Dazed and Confused (1993, Richard Linklater)

99.   Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014, The Russos)

100.                       The Lion King (1994, Rob Minkoff and Roger Allers)

101.                       Toy Story 2 (1999, John Lasseter)

102.                       Aliens (1986, James Cameron)

103.                       Bambi (1942, Committee)

104.                       Se7en (1995, David Fincher)

105.                       Ocean’s Eleven (2001, Steven Soderbergh)

106.                       Spider-Man 2 (2004, Sam Raimi)

107.                       Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988, Robert Zemeckis)

108.                       Lady Bird (2017, Greta Gerwig)

109.                       The Handmaiden (2016, Park Chan-Wook)

110.                       A Knight’s Tale (2001, Brian Helgeland)

111.                       All That Jazz (1979, Bob Fosse)

112.                       When Harry Met Sally… (1989, Rob Reiner)

113.                       My Neighbor Totoro (1993, Hayao Miyazaki)

114.                       Dunkirk (2017, Christopher Nolan)

115.                       The Dark Knight Rises (2012, Christopher Nolan)

116.                       The Great Escape (1963, John Sturges)

117.                       The Iron Giant (1999, Brad Bird)

118.                       The Princess Bride (1987, Rob Reiner)

119.                       The Big Lebowski (1998, Joel and Ethan Coen)

120.                       The Thing (1982, John Carpenter)

121.                       The Blair Witch Project (1999, Eduardo Sanchez and Daniel Myrick)

122.                       Ran (1985, Akira Kurosawa)

123.                       A Star is Born (1954, George Cukor)

124.                       The Manchurian Candidate (1962, John Frankenheimer)

125.                       Paddington 2 (2018, Paul King)

126.                       The Untouchables (1987, Brian DePalma)

127.                       Gladiator (2000, Ridley Scott)

128.                       Face/Off (1997, John Woo)

129.                       Die Hard (1988, John McTiernan)

130.                       Casino Royale (2006, Martin Campbell)

131.                       Cabaret (1972, Bob Fosse)

132.                       Blade Runner (1982, Ridley Scott)

133.                       Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989, Steven Spielberg)

134.                       Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989, Hayao Miyazaki)

135.                       The LEGO Movie (2014, Phil Lord and Chris Miller)

136.                       Shrek (2001, Adamson and Jenson)

137.                       Hard Boiled (1992, John Woo)

138.                       Belle (2021, Mamoru Hosoda)

139.                       The Departed (2006, Martin Scorsese)

140.                       Eyes Wide Shut (1999, Stanley Kubrick)

141.                       The Third Man (1949, Carol Reed)

142.                       Arsenic and the Old Lace (1944, Frank Capra)

143.                       The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967, Jacques Demy)

144.                       The Elephant Man (1980, David Lynch)

145.                       Saving Private Ryan (1998, Steven Spielberg)

146.                       Rocky (1976, John G. Avildsen)

147.                       Ferris Beuller’s Day Off (1986, John Hughes)

148.                       Life of Pi (2012, Ang Lee)

149.                       Finding Nemo (2003, Andrew Stanton)

150.                       Ikiru (1952, Akira Kurosawa)

151.                       All About Eve (1951, Joseph L. Mankiewicz)

152.                       Grave of the Fireflies (1988, Isao Takahata)

153.                       Harakiri (1962, Masaki Kobayashi)

154.                       Life of Brian (1979, Terry Jones)

155.                       Manchester by the Sea (2016, Kenneth Lonergan)

156.                       Good Will Hunting (1997, Gus Van Sant)

157.                       Unforgiven (1992, Clint Eastwood)

158.                       Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019, Celine Sciamma)

159.                       The Italian Job (1969, Peter Collinson)

160.                       Tenet (2020, Christopher Nolan)

161.                       Cruel Intentions (1999, Roger Kumble)

162.                       The Black Stallion (1979, Carroll Ballard)

163.                       Au Hasard Balthasar (1966, Robert Bresson)

164.                       Clueless (1995, Amy Heckerling)

165.                       The Searchers (1956, John Ford)

166.                       Joint Security Area (2000, Park Chan-wook)

167.                       Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003, Nikkhil Advani)

168.                       The Last Temptation of Christ (1988, Martin Scorsese)

169.                       Avatar (2009, James Cameron)

170.                       Wild Strawberries (1957, Ingmar Bergman)

171.                       The Emperor’s New Groove (2000, Mark Dindal)

172.                       The Wolf of Wall Street (2013, Martin Scorsese)

173.                       Raging Bull (1980, Martin Scorsese)

174.                       Gravity (2013, Alfonso Cuaron)

175.                       Stalker (1979, Andrei Tarkovsky)

176.                       The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957, David Lean)

177.                       Margaret (2011, Kenneth Lonergan)

178.                       Ocean’s Twelve (2004, Steven Soderbergh)

179.                       India Song (1975, Marguerite Duras)

180.                       Avengers: Endgame (2019, The Russos)

181.                       Avengers: Infinity War (2018, The Russos)

182.                       Chariots of Fire (1981, Hugh Hudson)

183.                       Toni Erdmann (2016, Maren Ade)

184.                       Jeanne Dielman 23, Quai du Commerce 1080 Bruxelles (1975, Chantal Akerman)

185.                       Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (2006, Gore Verbinski)

186.                       City of God (2002, Katia Lund and Fernando Merielles)

187.                       Apollo 13 (1995, Ron Howard)

188.                       Whiplash (2013, Damien Jiizelle)

189.                       Amadeus (1984, Milos Forman)

190.                       Inglourious Basterds (2009, Quentin Tarantino)

191.                       1917 (2019, Sam Mendes)

192.                       Chinatown (1974, Roman Polanski)

193.                       The Farewell (2019, Lulu Wang)

194.                       Before Midnight (2013, Richard Linklater)

195.                       Call Me By Your Name (2017, Luca Guadagnino)

196.                       Almost Famous (2000, Cameron Crowe)

197.                       The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly (1966, Sergio Leone)

198.                       The Big Short (2015, Adam McKay)

199.                       The Martian (2015, Ridley Scott)

200.                       The Terminator (1984, James Cameron)

201.                       The Right Stuff (1983, Philip Kaufman)

202.                       Guardians of the Galaxy (2014, James Gunn)

203.                       The Killer (1988, John Woo)

204.                       Blue Velvet (1988, David Lynch)

205.                       Amelie (2001, Jean-Pierre Jeunuet)

206.                       Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (2011, David Yates)

207.                       Fiddler on the Roof (1971, Norman Jewison)

208.                       Notorious (1946, Alfred Hitchcock)

209.                       Innocence (2020, Park Sang-hyun)

210.                       Body Double (1984, Brian DePalma)

211.                       Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (2005, Park Chan-Wook)

212.                       She’s Gotta Have It (1986, Spike Lee)

213.                       Young Adult (2011, Jason Reitman)

214.                       Catch Me if You Can (2002, Steven Spielberg)

215.                       Persepolis (2007, Olivier Bernet)

216.                       Gremlins (1984, Joe Dante)

217.                       Scream (1996, Wes Craven)

218.                       Zodiac (2007, David Fincher)

219.                       Short Term 12 (2013, Destin Daniel Cretton)

220.                       If Beale Street Could Talk (2018, Barry Jenkins)

221.                       Moulin Rouge! (2001, Baz Luhrmann)

222.                       Coming to America (1988, John Landis)

223.                       Touch of Evil (1958, Orson Welles)

224.                       Superbad (2007, Greg Mottola)

225.                       Under the Silver Lake (2018, David Robert Mitchell)

226.                       Juno (2007, Jason Reitman)

227.                       Mary Poppins (1964, Robert Stevenson)

228.                       Frozen (2013, Jennifer Lee)

229.                       Only Angels Have Wings (1939, Howard Hawks)

230.                       Dune (2021, Denis Villeneuve)

231.                       There Will Be Blood (2007, Paul Thomas Anderson)

232.                       Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl (2003, Gore Verbinski)

233.                       Up (2009, Pete Docter)

234.                       Pinocchio (1940, Committee)

235.                       Hot Fuzz (2007, Edgar Wright)

236.                       Airplane! (1980, Zuckers and Abrahams)

237.                       The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975, Jim Sharman)

238.                       Little Women (2019, Greta Gerwig)

239.                       Children of Men (2006, Alfonso Cuaron)

240.                       The Conversation (1974, Francis Ford Coppola)

241.                       The Thin Red Line (1988, Terrence Malick)

242.                       Creed (2015, Ryan Coogler)

243.                       8 ½ (1963, Federico Fellini)

244.                       22 Jump Street (2014, Phil Lord and Chris Miller)

245.                       Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015, JJ Abrams)

246.                       South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut (1999, Trey Parker)

247.                       Stop Making Sense (1999, Jonathan Demme)

248.                       Dog Day Afternoon (1975, Sidney Lumet)

249.                       Jojo Rabbit (2019, Taika Waititi)

250.                       Fanny and Alexander (1982, Ingmar Bergman)

Titanic first place? :gold:

Glad I'm not on Telegram.

Kalo · August 10, 2022

On 8/4/2022 at 8:42 PM, The Panda said:

Did you think I was talking about IW? Oops, sorry that one missed the top 100. I was talking about this masterwork of pop art!

Number 43

"Let the past die. Kill it, if you have to. That's the only way to become what you are meant to be."

About the Film

Synopsis

"Rey develops her newly discovered abilities with the guidance of Luke Skywalker, who is unsettled by the strength of her powers. Meanwhile, the Resistance prepares to do battle with the First Order."

Its Legacy

"Eight months after it opened in theaters, Star Wars fans were still talking about the eighth installment in the series, The Last Jedi. During this time, media outlets ranging from lightweight pop culture websites to serious news organizations have covered the “toxic” parts of Star Wars fandom, i.e. fans who hate The Last Jedi and have gone as far as trying to crowdfund a remake of the film, start Change.org petitions to strike the film from the Star Wars canon and create videos, websites and social media content that criticize the film and call for the firing of its creators. Supporters of The Last Jedi have called these detractors out as being predominantly white males with misogynistic views that did not care for the film’s attempts at improving representation of women and ethnic/sexual minorities in the Star Wars franchise. However, as the study presented here shows, this is more than a heated discussion among social media users. There is also evidence that the fan conflict caused by The Last Jedi stems from deliberate and organized social media influence tactics employed by politically motivated operators, foreign and domestic. This study explores how these political influence tactics on social media have jumped from political debate spaces to pop culture discussions – but with the same goals of disruption or persuasion.

In National Review, conservative commentator Peter Spiliakos described the conflict as having less to do with the movie itself and more to do with the political polarization of the Western societies into which The Last Jedi was inserted: “People on both sides of this divide are trying to drag the Star Wars franchise into a pre-existing set of obsessions and resentments.” (Spiliakos, 2018). Whether you agree with Spilliakos’ take on the film or not, this is an intriguing perspective. How does the current state of political discourse and the use of social media for political influence tactics in the U.S. and other Western nations impact our consumption of pop culture phenomena such as The Last Jedi?

It should not have been a surprise that a new trilogy in the Star Wars franchise would express equally left-leaning sentiments. Although they may still have a long way to go (Brown, 2018), the Star Wars films, books, video games and tv shows produced after Disney’s acquisition of Lucasfilm in 2014 have made an effort to address identity politics by introducing strong, female protagonists and a better overall representation of gender, race/ethnicity and sexuality. This was the case in the first entry in the new trilogy, The Force Awakens, but even more so in The Last Jedi (Watercutter, 2017), which took a no-holds-barred approach to address issues of gender discrimination, class warfare, the destructive character of masculine aggression and war profiteering, while still working within the left-of-center frame constructed by George Lucas in 1977. Criticism of American engagements in the Middle East had already been present in the anthology film Rogue One from 2016 (Doescher, 2016), so clearly Star Wars was continuing to convey left-of-center values in the new Disney era. In other words, in the more than 40 years it has existed, politics and left-leaning political commentary has always been woven into Star Wars’ fabric.

Still, it appears that some fans with right-leaning political views expected the franchise to be politically neutral, as they went to see the first Star Wars film of the Trump presidency, The Last Jedi. They saw its arguments for equality of gender, race and class as a new, leftist takeover of Star Wars, even though Star Wars has always been politically left-leaning. The Last Jedi is unique in that it landed in the Trump era, acting as a lightning rod at a time when most cinemagoers had chosen a political side for or against the president and adopted the “obsessions and resentments” of their political camp, with social media acting as the primary battleground. However, The Last Jedi fan conflict is not just an interesting case because it is a microcosm of the overall political discourse on social media in the Trump era, but also because it is possible to identify organized and deliberate attempts at right-wing political persuasion and/or defense of conservative values in the social media discussions about the film. It is important to stress, of course, that there are also a substantial number of fans who simply think The Last Jedi is a bad film and who use social media to express their disappointment. Regardless of motive, almost all negative fans express the belief that they are in the majority and that most Star Wars fans dislike The Last Jedi."

- Morten Bay (2018). Weaponizing the haters: The Last Jedi and the strategic politicization of pop culture through social media manipulation. First Monday, 23(11).

From the Filmmaker

Why It's Great

Critic Opinion

"When The Last Jedi was released in 2017, it seemed that the hope of an acosmotic Star Wars complete with Force-balancing Gray Jedi was justified. Or at least it appeared so for the first two-thirds of the film. It presented a jaded Luke who spoke like a cynical, lapsed Catholic who repudiated his old views as embarrassingly dogmatic. He chided the Jedi for their presumptuousness at pretending to speak for the entirety of the Force and their arrogance for thinking they could ever obliterate the dark side. The greatest indicator that The Last Jedi continued Star Wars’ movement away from the cosmotic view of the Force was the long-distance pseudo-romance between Kylo Ren and Rey. The two antagonists manifested character traits associated with their opposite. Rey was uncharacteristically aggressive by firing a blaster at Kylo’s phantasm and snarling threats at him, while Kylo showed an oddly genial side, quizzically asking: “Can you see my surroundings? I can see you but not your surroundings” (Johnson 2017a). Their Force-mediated conversations brought them so close that astral-projected Kylo and Rey virtually held hands like awkward teenagers, which prompted Luke, playing his best angry dad storming into the basement when things got too quiet, to dispel Kylo’s presence. The two-year-long buildup toward an acosmotic view of the Force comes to a head when Kylo and Rey fight side by side against Snoke’s Praetorian Guard. The slow motion start to the fight frames the pair in the centre of the screen surrounded by enemies, symbolizing that like Bendu they stand in the middle of the Force. Kylo risks his life to save an agent of good and eliminates the evil supreme leader just before Rey kills with a lightsaber for the first time. After a gritty fight sequence during which the pair seamlessly weave their attacks to dispatch their deadly foes, Kylo Ren reaches out his hand to Rey and asks her to join him in creating a new galaxy without Sith or Jedi.

This is the moment many faithful were waiting for, when Kylo Ren and Rey would finally step beyond the simple dichotomy of good versus evil and find balance together as allied Gray Jedi! Their alliance would be the logical culmination of creative shift toward an acosmotic depiction of the Force! Rey lifts her hand but then attempts to Force-pull Luke’s lightsaber from Kylo! Kylo is as stunned as the audience, and the two are immediately thrown into a battle of wills that sunders Luke’s lightsaber along with their burgeoning friendship and any hope that Rey would become a Gray Jedi. It was as if in the moment of their closest intimacy, they were Forced to resume their antagonism.4 From this point on, all gentleness in Kylo Ren is gone. He becomes the Force-choking, vein popping, “More!” screaming Supreme Leader hell-bent on destroying Luke and any remnant of the Jedi legacy. Rey becomes a beatific, rock-lifting saviour anointed by Luke as the last Jedi. This left many to wonder what happened to “the Jedi must end,” and all the talk about balance, not to mention the flirty chemistry between Rey and Kylo Ren. It seemed that all of the buildup toward a new view of the Force was false advertising; the trailers hinted at an acosmotic Force balanced within Gray Jedi but delivered a good-guys-versus-bad-guys space western.

But perhaps The Last Jedi did not miss the opportunity to introduce an acosmotic view of the Force by including a Gray Jedi. Perhaps it offered a novel depiction of the Force as both in balance and in conflict. As luck would have it (if you, unlike Obi-Wan, even believe in luck!), James Maffie (2014) recently published Aztec Philosophy: Understanding a World in Motion, which presents a careful description of Nahuatl cosmology that also happens to be a useful hermeneutical frame for charitably understanding the cosmology of The Last Jedi. It describes an Aztec ontology that is similar to Daoism, in that it is deeply processive and dynamic. However, where Daoism emphasized a gentle and non-coercive wuwei as means of being in harmony with the Dao, Aztec sages taught that, while the entire world and all things in it are part of one interrelated, complex, and dynamic life process they called teotl, they did not describe teotl through gentle metaphors like Daoism’s still water or the uncarved block (Ames and Hall 2004, 36; Maffie 2014, 152). Teotl was indeed a processive and self-balancing unity; however, it was a unity that balanced itself through an uncountable number of conflicts between matched, co-defining, and co-creating polar opposites.

This article argues that if we view The Last Jedi through the lens of the Aztec ideal of teotl we see a new facet of the Force that borrows elements of both cosmotic and acosmotic cosmologies that have been prevalent in earlier Star Wars tales. The problem was that the critics of the ending of The Last Jedi assumed that an acosmotic view of the Force would require the protagonists to become Gray Jedi striving toward Daoist balance. Instead, The Last Jedi depicts an acosmotic Force that strives for dynamic balance through, not in spite of, conflict. This is precisely the central trait of the Aztec idea of teotl: the cosmic totality that revivifies itself through the violent clashing of opposites. Teotl not only offers us a richer possible understanding of various fundamental religious and philosophical concepts relating to morality, balance, and the nature of good and evil, but it also helps correct the racist assumption that the peoples of the Americas have nothing to offer humanity’s vitally necessary reflections on and discussions about good, evil, and the nature of the universe.

Teotl recreates itself through the never-ending struggle between life and death, light and dark, not their blending into gray, undead half-life/half-death. Therefore, if we read The Last Jedi through the Aztec concept of teotl, we see that Rey and Kylo Ren had no chance of becoming Gray Jedi allies. The Force needed them to be apart. It needed light distinct from darkness, so they might balance the Force through their struggle, but a blending would obliterate them both. Teotl is not progressing toward an end time where goodness triumphs over evil; teotl is a moving living process that exists for its own sake, like the Dao. While the Aztecs agreed with Abrahamic believers and Zoroastrians that the universe was a cosmic arena wherein powerful forces strove against each other, they did not see this as a cosmotic battle between superior good and inferior evil:

'Aztec metaphysics conceives neither reality nor human existence in terms of a struggle between good and evil. Indeed, good and evil as such simply do not exist. Teotl is thoroughly amoral. Agonistic inamic unity thus differs strikingly from Zoroastrian- and Manichean-style dualisms that have exercised so much influence upon Western religious and philosophical thought.' (Maffie 2014, 155)

Reading the Force as akin to teotl explains why Luke chided the Jedi for their hubris in The Last Jedi. The fact that the Jedi served the light did not make them truer servants of the Force than the Sith. The Force needed the Sith and Jedi to both raise their banners—their Ashla and Bogan—and serve their side of the Force, but neither was right or wrong to do so. The Force needed them to struggle for life to exist and to bind the galaxy together."

- Terrance MacMullin, Journal of Religion and Popular Culture

Public Opinion

"I'm sure anyone who reads this already has their opinion on this film well and set, so there's very little I could say to sway somebody who's not on my side of the fence over on why Star Wars: The Last Jedi is a pop-art masterpiece. As I was browsing through the comments in the review thread I saw a comment in which I ranked this as my second favorite Star Wars film and asked "Upon re-watches and time could this even top ESB?". Well, two years later and I know that answer, yes it definitively has, it's the greatest of all these space opera fantasy movies. I have also decided in my head cannon that this is the true finale of the franchise, or at least the Skywalker saga. The final scene of the movie is absolutely brilliant on cementing the threading theme throughout the film about who can be a hero and the power of myths and legends. The Last Jedi may not have been the film that some fanboys wanted, but boy was it the genre deconstruction and reconstruction that Star Wars so direly needed. It re-affirms everything I love about Star Wars and is a true pinnacle in achievement in franchise filmmaking."

- @The Panda

The AI's Poetic Opinion

the last jedi

"No one's every really gone
Brought the great brook to the town on shade,
Through the glad day and the night upon
Mankind had to break upon his blade."

- Samantha

Factoids

Previous Rankings

#99 (2020), #96 (2018), NA (2016, 2014, 2013, 2012)

Director Count

Stanley Kubrick (3), Brad Bird (2), James Cameron (2), Martin Scorsese (2), David Fincher (2), Spike Lee (2), Sergio Leone (2), Hayao Miyazaki (2), Christopher Nolan (2), The Russos (2), Ridley Scott (2), Andrew Stanton (2), Peter Weir (2), Paul Thomas Anderson (1), John G. Avildsen (1), Frank Capra (1), John Carpenter (1), Charlie Chaplin (1), Brenda Chapman (1), Joel Coen (1), Wes Craven (1), Jonathan Demme (1), Pete Doctor (1), Clint Eastwood (1), Victor Fleming (1), William Friedkin (1), Terry Gillam (1), Michel Gondry (1), Steve Hickner (1), Rian Johnson (1), Terry Jones (1), John Lasseter (1), Richard Linklater (1), Katia Lund (1), David Lynch (1), Richard Marquand (1), Fernando Meirelles (1), Katsuhiro Otomo (1), Jan Pinkava (1), Makoto Shinkai (1), Vittorio de Sica (1), Steven Spielberg (1), Isao Takahata (1), Guillermo Del Torro (1), Lee Unkrich (1), Gore Verbinski (1), Simon Wells (1), Billy Wilder (1), Kar-Wai Wong (1), Robert Zemeckis (1)

Decade Count

1930s (2), 1940s (2), 1950s (1), 1960s (4), 1970s (4), 1980s (8), 1990s (11), 2000s (17), 2010s (7)

Country Count

Japan (5), Italy (3), Brazil (1), China (1), Mexico (1), Spain (1), UK (1)

Franchise Count

Pixar (6), Ghibli (4), The MCU (2), Star Wars (2), Alien (1), Avatar (1), Before (1), Blade Runner (1), Dollars (1), The Exorcist (1), Finding Nemo (1), Hannibal (1), Halloween (1), Incredibles (1), Pirates of the Caribbean (1), Rocky (1), Scream (1), The Shining (1), Toy Story (1), The Wizard of Oz (1)

Re-Weighted Placements

#19 Fanboy Ranking, #60 Cinema Ranking

#48 Old Farts Ranking, #37 Damn Kids Ranking

#56 Ambassador Ranking, #39 All-American Ranking

#32 Cartoon Ranking, #44 Damn Boomer Ranking