BOT Top 250 Films of All-Time: or How We Learned to Start Shitposting and Love the Countdown!

[The Panda]

2 minutes ago, DAR said:

Folks I like four of thes3 movies quite a bit but this set of films wishes they were as good as the Right Stuff.   Also @The Panda Phillip Kaufmann directed the movie.

 

Ooops, fixed! Clearly the only correction that needs to be made in the last two posts.

[TalismanRing]

21 minutes ago, The Panda said:

 

211.    Shrek (dir. Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, 2001)
212.    The Third Man (dir. Carol Reed, 1949)
213.    Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (dir. Gore Verbinski, 2006)
214.    The Right Stuff (dir. Dennis Quaid, 1983)
215.    The Black Stallion (dir. Carrol Ballard, 1979)
 

Also updated the main post to include the current list up until this point!

 

The Right Stuff (dir. Dennis Quaid, 1983)

 

Philip Kaufman is the director.  Quaid was one of the main actors

 

Edit: should have refreshed the page again before posting.

Edited July 25 by TalismanRing

[TalismanRing]

8 minutes ago, DAR said:

Folks I like four of thes3 movies quite a bit but this set of films wishes they were as good as the Right Stuff.   Also @The Panda Phillip Kaufmann directed the movie.

 

But The Third Man...

 

And I forgot both for my list

[ZeeSoh]

Strange seeing so many movies that were unranked before showing up all of a sudden in the top 100. And many movies that were higher in previous lists have fallen quite a bit. I wonder what changed this time around

[The Panda]

15 minutes ago, ZeeSoh said:

Strange seeing so many movies that were unranked before showing up all of a sudden in the top 100. And many movies that were higher in previous lists have fallen quite a bit. I wonder what changed this time around

i will say, we had a sizable amount of first time voters and some members who had always sent in lists before who didn’t this time. That probably led to a bit of a shuffle, although it’s not that uncommon to see a lot of the priorly unranked stuff show up in the 100-70 range or so. That tended to be the case in the past lists too.

[baumer]

Aliens being this low is an absolute crying shame.  I'm also disappointed that gladiator is this low.

[Jaxon5]

4 minutes ago, baumer said:

Aliens being this low is an absolute crying shame. I know there's different generations but me being a 70s born person, aliens in my opinion at least as one of the top 10 films of all time. I'm also disappointed that gladiator is this low.

I like your taste in movies

[Eric Deetz]

13 hours ago, The Panda said:

Number 80

 

 

"May the devil himself splatter you with dung."

 

Synopsis

 

"The story of a gentle-hearted beast in love with a simple and beautiful girl. She is drawn to the repellent but strangely fascinating Beast, who tests her fidelity by giving her a key, telling her that if she doesn't return it to him by a specific time, he will die of grief. She is unable to return the key on time, but it is revealed that the Beast is the genuinely handsome one. A simple tale of tragic love that turns into a surreal vision of death, desire, and beauty." - The Movie Database

 

 

From the Scholar

 

"The role of the artist is thus to create an organism having a life of its own drawn from life, and not destined to surprise, to please or displease, but to arouse secret feelings in reaction to certain signs which represent beauty for some, ugliness and deformity for others.

 

Cocteau, Démarche d'un poète.

 

The 1946 Jean Cocteau film Beauty and the Beast is ostensibly an adaptation of a classic French fairy tale written in 1757. As the accompanying chart shows, Cocteau made numerous additions, deletions and transpositions in his rewriting and reworking of the eighteenth-century original text (changes often alluded to by critics). The addition of Avenant (which in French means attractive), played as well by Jean Marais, the Beast, squares the plot and especially the ending. There Avenant and the Beast exchange masks, reuniting internal and external beauty and ugliness and resolving the double tension of their two dichotomies. Avenant repeats the fate of the Beast, being turned from beauty to beast because he did not believe in the powers of magic. The creation of Avenant not only offsets the Prince-Beast but also establishes a masculine equivalent of the linguistic feminine polarity of the French title: La Belle et la bête."

- Pauly, Rebecca M. Literature/Film Quarterly; Salisbury Vol. 17, Iss. 2,  (1989): 84-90.

 

From the Filmmaker

 

 

From the Critic

 

"Before Disney's 1991 film and long before the Beast started signing autographs in Orlando, Jean Cocteau filmed "Beauty and the Beast" in 1946, in France. It is one of the most magical of all films. Before the days of computer effects and modern creature makeup, here is a fantasy alive with trick shots and astonishing effects, giving us a Beast who is lonely like a man and misunderstood like an animal. Cocteau, a poet and surrealist, was not making a "children's film" but was adapting a classic French tale that he felt had a special message after the suffering of World War II: Anyone who has an unhappy childhood may grow up to be a Beast.

 

Those familiar with the 1991 cartoon will recognize some of the elements of the story, but certainly not the tone. Cocteau uses haunting images and bold Freudian symbols to suggest that emotions are at a boil in the subconscious of his characters. Consider the extraordinary shot where Belle waits at the dining table in the castle for the Beast's first entrance. He appears behind her and approaches silently. She senses his presence, and begins to react in a way that some viewers have described as fright, although it is clearly orgasmic. Before she has even seen him, she is aroused to her very depths, and a few seconds later, as she tells him she cannot marry--a Beast!--she toys with a knife that is more than a knife."

- Roger Ebert

 

From the Public

 

"A film that is enchanting in every sense of the word. The film combines a sense of realism, though still under a childlike lens, with a strong, potent sense of surrealism that is simply magical. It really does feel like a fairy tale come to life. And as somebody who loves fairy tales, even the sanitized versions, this was all I could ever want.

 

The scenes surrounding Belle's childhood home are very entertaining for sure, and they get even better when the fantasy and the magic of the castle start to infest the picture. Yet it's the Beast and the castle that truly makes this picture work. The makeup on the Beast, a lion-styled design, is both a threatening, yet alluring look that still works today. At the same time, the castle is full of so many wonderful touches that give it a sense of mystery and wonder all at once. The handleabras that beckon the protagonist in, the curtains blowing through the wind, the bedrooms and dining hall full of immense detail. Even the way Belle moves through the castle at points, as if she is gliding on air, brings so much mood and atmosphere that it's hard not to be entranced by it all.

 

In many ways, the way the film plays out is almost like a dream. Objectively speaking, it doesn't quite make sense, but everything is so moody and alluring, as if we're being lulled into our own minds and that we are seeing one of Jean Cocteau's strange and wild dreams projected onto celluloid. A movie that truly feels like a dream come to life is a task that is easier said than done, but Cocteau nails it. This is a serious all-timer for me and I loved just about everything here." - @Eric

 

 

Factoids

 

Previous Year's Rankings

2012 - Unranked, 2013 - Unranked, 2014 - Unranked, 2016 - Unranked, 2018 - Unranked, 2020 - Unranked, 2022 – Unranked

 

Director Count

J. Cameron (2), A. Kurosawa (2), D. Lynch (2), R. Allers (1), R. Altman (1), J. Cocteau (1), J. Demy (1), C.T. Dreyer (1), M. Forman (1), W. Friedkin (1), M. Kobayashi (1), S. Leone (1), L. McCarey (1), R. Minkoff (1), C. Nolan (1), J. Peele (1), R. Scott (1), M.N. Shyamalan (1), V.D. Sica (1)

 

Decade Count

1980s (4), 1960s (3), 2000s (3), 1940s (2), 1950s (2), 1970s (2), 1990s (2), 1920s (1), 1930s (1), 2010s (1)

 

International Film Count

Japan (3), France (3), Italy (2)

 

Franchise Count

Alien (1), Avatar (1), Exorcist (1), Gladiator (1), Man With No Name (1), WDAS (1)

 

Genre Count

Historical Fiction (6), Drama (4), Horror (4), Comedy (3), Musical (3), Action (2), Adventure (2), Epic (2), Fantasy (2), Jidaigeki (2), Noir (2), Sci-Fi (2), Thriller (2), Tragedy (2), Animation (1), Coming of Age (1), Mystery (1), Neorealism (1), Romance (1), Western (1)

 

 

A Recipe

Belle's Beef Ragout

 

Ingredients:
2 lb beef chuck roast, 1.5-inch cubed
2 cups rosé
12 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
2 cups beef bone broth
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp ground clove
2 parmesan rinds
3 Tb unsalted butter
1-2 sprigs fresh rosemary
3-4 sprigs fresh thyme
1 Tb dried rose petals
1-2 sprigs fresh parsley
2 bay leaves
2 Tb tomato paste
1/2 lb carrots, 1-inch cubed
8 oz. button mushrooms
1/2 yellow onion, 1-inch diced
kosher salt

Instructions:
Blend a pinch of kosher salt in a dish with the flour and ground clove. Then preheat the oven to ·250°F.

Melt a tablespoon of butter in the dutch oven over medium-low heat on the stovetop. Saute the garlic until golden, then transfer to a separate bowl with the tomato paste.

Melt the remaining butter in the pan, then saute the mushrooms until the sizzling slows. Transfer to a dish, cover with plastic wrap, then refrigerate.

Working in single layer batches, dredge the beef in the flour mixture and brown on all sides before moving to a plate. 
Deglaze the pot with the wine, and scrape up the browned bits with a plastic spatula. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to simmer for 10 minutes.

While waiting, add the remaining flour to the bowl of tomato paste and garlic. Smash the contents with the back of a spoon and stir into a uniform paste.

Stir the bone broth into the pot, then the beef and garlic paste. Once combined, add the carrot and onion. Then stuff the rosepetals and herbs into the strainer before setting it into the pot as well. 

Bring the stew to a boil, cover with a lid, then place inside the oven to braise for three and a half hours until tender.

Stir the rosewater and mushrooms into the pot, cover again, and set aside to cool. Refrigerate overnight to let the flavors marry.
Reheat the pot over low heat on the stovetop for 30 minutes before serving.

 

From: https://thegluttonousgeek.com/2021/03/04/belle-beef-ragout/

 

 

 

The only adaptation that matters…

[The Panda]

It seems we have an error. Apparently, all of those voters voting for "Beauty and the Beast" demanded I "give them the Disneyland version", instead of the widely beloved French classic from 1946.

 

Although others are telling me Cocteau could still remain president (of spot number 80) if I only had the courage...

 

Number 80

 

 

"Tale as old as time."

 

Synopsis

 

"Join brave, independent Belle on the adventure of a lifetime as she sets out to rescue her father---and discovers the enchanted castle of a mysterious beast. Enjoy this timeless tale overflowing with unforgettable characters and music you'll never forget, universally acclaimed as one of Walt Disney Animation Studios' finest features." - Disney+

 

From the Scholar

 

"When Disney's Beauty and the Beast was released late in 1991, critics hailed the film for its apparently innovative portrayal of the heroine, Belle.1In Newsweek, David Arisen claimed that "from the start, the filmmakers knew they didn't want Belle to be the passive character of the original story or a carbon copy of Ariel in The Little Mermaid, a creation some critics found cloyingly sexist" (75). In MacLean's, Brian Johnson praised Disney for "break[ing] the sexist mould of its fairy-tale heroines. . . . Beauty and the Beast spells out its enlightenment in no uncertain terms" (56). And in The New York Times, Janet Maslin asserted that Belle is "a smart, independent heroine . . . who makes a conspicuously better role model than the marriage-minded Disney heroines of the past" (1). But in spite of this insistence that Belle is a strong female character, that this fairy tale is "different," I saw the same old story, a romance plot that robs female characters of self-determination and individuality. Not at all a feminist movie, Disney's Beauty and the Beast slips easily into the mold of almost all other popular versions of fairy tales; that is, it encourages young viewers to believe that true happiness for women exists only in the arms of a prince and that their most important quest is finding that prince.

 

Although it is clear that "Beauty and the Beast" has always been in part a love story, earlier printed versions of the tale offer valuable lessons in addition to emphasizing the love relationship. Disney, on the other hand, strips the traditional fairy tale of anything but the romantic trajectory, throws in a dose of violence, and woos its vast audience into believing it has been educated as well as entertained. Disney's Beauty and the Beast, while initially presenting a more interesting and better developed heroine than those we find in other Disney animated features, undermines the gains it makes by focusing narrative attention on courtship as plot advancement and marriage as dénouement. Certainly, romantic love is an important part of people's lives. But if we want children to develop balanced views of relationships between men and women and of their own identities as active individuals with full access to society, we should question the messages sent by such films.

 

The deleterious effects of concluding fairy tales with marriage have been extensively examined by such critics as Marcia K. Lieberman and Karen Rowe. Lieberman points out that while [End Page 22] such stories end with marriage, the action of the story is concerned with courtship,

 

which is magnified into the most important and exciting part of a girl's life, brief though courtship is, because it is the part of her life in which she most counts as a person herself. After marriage she ceases to be wooed, her consent is no longer sought, she derives her status from her husband, and her personal identity is thus snuffed out. When fairy tales show courtship as exciting, and conclude with marriage, and the vague statement that "they lived happily ever after," children may develop a deep-seated desire always to be courted, since marriage is literally the end of the story.

 

 

...

 

If Disney claims to be updating fairy tales for contemporary children by eliminating sexism and creating strong female characters, then Disney is subject to an examination of these aspirations. To be sure, it is important to remember that Belle is an improvement on earlier Disney heroines. She is presented as a much more well-rounded person, with interests, goals, and aspirations. More than just a self-sacrificing, devoted daughter, Belle shows gumption when she stands up to the Beast, curiosity when she explores the forbidden West Wing, and rebellion when she runs away from the castle.10 But these traits, in and of themselves, are not rewarded or acknowledged as the tale closes. The emphasis is on Belle's nurturing tenderness, her beauty, her sexuality, and her happily-ever-after commitment to the Beast. Each of the refreshing traits set up at the beginning of the story is diminished or eliminated. The importance of Belle as a reader is greatly reduced. We do not see her travel beyond her village and the neighboring palace. We do not know whether she develops any new interests or ideas. Instead, we find her in virtually the same position as Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella at the end of their stories: by the side of her prince. The capitulation of Disney's Beauty and the Beast to the romance plot is complete. Because it aspired to move beyond this conclusion and snared us into thinking that it might, the Disney version is ultimately more dangerous than the most blatantly sexist fairy tales. Recognizing this danger is the first step in transforming that beast."

- Cummins, June. "Romancing the Plot: The Real Beast of Disney's Beauty and the Beast." Children's Literature Association Quarterly 20, no. 1 (1995): 22-28.

 

From the Filmmaker

 

 

From the Critic

 

"A lovely film that ranks with the best of Disney’s animated classics, Beauty and the Beast is a tale freshly retold. Darker-hued than the usual animated feature, with a predominant brownish-gray color scheme balanced by Belle’s blue dress and radiant features, Beauty [from the classic French fairy tale] engages the emotions with an unabashed sincerity that manages to avoid the pitfalls of triteness and corn.

 

The character of Belle, magnificently voiced by Paige O’Hara, is a brainy young woman scorned as a bookworm by her townsfolk and kidnaped by the Beast. She finds her initial aversion overcome by a growing appreciation of his inner beauty and sensitivity. While the usually soft-spoken Robby Benson might seem an odd choice for the voice of the Beast, his booming bass voice in the early sections and the increasingly boyish timbre of his voice in the later parts perfectly capture the character’s complexity."

- Variety

 

 

From the Public

 

"Most interestingly, the movie is a subtle but damning musing on masculinity. Gaston, one of Disney's scariest villains, is Narcissus, who uses his looks and physique to rule over the town, despite not have any other qualifications. The Beast is a violent manchild who must learn that he cannot lash out in fits of violence and automatically get his way; and he must learn empathy and kindness, in order to escape his curse and truly be human.

 

Howard Ashman was an immense talent who we lost too soon. "Tale As Old As Time" is so simple yet earnest as sung by Angela Lansbury. His lyrics are top notch throughout, particularly in the unsung hero of the show: “The Mob Song.” What a climax! Panicked! Fast! Crazed Madness! I also love the story that Alan Menken wrote part of the fight scene in like ten minutes as a placeholder, but when he went back to write the “real part” they couldn’t think of anything better. True geniuses.

 

Beauty and the Beast is Howard Ashman and Alan Menken’s magnum opus; not only is it one of the best movies (live action or animated) of all time, it is one of the best musicals of all time."

- @Cap

 

 

Factoids

 

Previous Year's Rankings

2012 - #77, 2013 - #68, 2014 - #44, 2016 - #47, 2018 - #40, 2020 - #54, 2022 – #34

 

Director Count

J. Cameron (2), A. Kurosawa (2), D. Lynch (2), R. Allers (1), R. Altman (1), J. Demy (1), C.T. Dreyer (1), M. Forman (1), W. Friedkin (1), M. Kobayashi (1), S. Leone (1), L. McCarey (1), R. Minkoff (1), C. Nolan (1), J. Peele (1), R. Scott (1), M.N. Shyamalan (1), V.D. Sica (1), G. Trousdale (1), K. Wise (1)

 

Decade Count

1980s (4), 1960s (3), 1990s (3), 2000s (3), 1950s (2), 1970s (2), 1920s (1), 1930s (1), 1940s (1), 2010s (1)

 

International Film Count

Japan (3), France (2), Italy (2)

 

Franchise Count

WDAS (2), Alien (1), Avatar (1), Exorcist (1), Gladiator (1), Man With No Name (1)

 

Genre Count

Historical Fiction (6), Drama (4), Horror (4), Musical (4), Comedy (3), Action (2), Adventure (2), Animation (2), Epic (2), Fantasy (2), Jidaigeki (2), Noir (2), Sci-Fi (2), Thriller (2), Tragedy (2), Coming of Age (1), Mystery (1), Neorealism (1), Romance (1), Western (1)

 

 

A Recipe

The "Grey Stuff" (from Disney World's "Be Our Guest" Restaurant)

 

Ingredients 
▢1 3.4 oz vanilla pudding mix
▢1 1/2 cups milk
▢15 oreos
▢8 oz cool whip
▢2 tbsp chocolate pudding mix
▢sprinkles

 

Instructions 
In a medium bowl, combine pudding mix and milk. Whisk well and refrigerate for 10 minutes.
Place Oreos in a food processor and blend until they become crumbs.
Mix the crushed Oreos in with the pudding mixture and mix well.
Fold in Cool Whip and chocolate pudding mix until well combined and refrigerate for one hour before serving.
When ready to serve, place “grey stuff” in a piping bag and add a dollop to the middle and then pipe a spiral around it. Top with sprinkles.
ENJOY!

 

 

From: https://lilluna.com/grey-stuff-recipe/

 

 

Edited July 25 by The Panda

[The Panda]

Number 79

 

 

"We didn't land on Plymouth Rock. Plymouth Rock landed on us!"

 

Synopsis

 

"One of the most electrifying heroes of the twentieth century receives an appropriately sweeping screen biopic, rich in both historical insight and propulsive cinematic style, courtesy of visionary director Spike Lee. Built around an extraordinary performance from Denzel Washington, Malcolm X draws on the iconic civil rights leader’s autobiography to trace his journey of empowerment, from a childhood riven by white-supremacist violence to a life of petty crime to his conversion to Islam and rebirth as a fearless fighter for Black liberation, whose courage and eloquence inspired oppressed communities the world over. Impeccably crafted by Lee and his closest creative collaborators, and buoyed by commanding performances from Angela Bassett, Delroy Lindo, Al Freeman Jr., and others, this is a passionate monument to a man whose life continues to serve as a model of principled resistance."

- The Criterion Collection

 

 

From the Scholar

 

"A moment in Malcolm X that comes across as somehow flawed happens early in the film. As the teenage Malcolm and his friend Shorty strut down a Boston street—dressed to the nines in their zoot suits and sporting new conks—there is a freeze frame on Malcolm’s smiling face. The shot then changes to a scene of Ku Klux Klansmen on horseback, while Malcolm’s voice, echoing the opening page of The Autobiography of Malcolm X (Malcolm X 1973, 1), describes the Klan’s attack on his family’s house in Omaha while Malcolm’s mother was pregnant with him. After smashing all the windows in the small house, the Klansmen ride off into the night, and at this point the film gives us a shockingly gorgeous shot of the Klansmen silhouetted against a giant full moon: without question, this is the most “beautiful” shot in the film. The flashback sequence [End Page 158] then continues with a series of vignettes of Earl and Louise Little, Malcolm’s parents, before returning to Boston and the Lionel Hampton Orchestra at the Roseland Ballroom.

 

The cinematic parapraxis here consists in the curiously romantic tone with which the Klan’s moonlit ride is presented, a tone apparently inconsistent with the horror of the experience of the Klan’s attack from the perspective of Malcolm’s family. Indeed, this portrayal of the Klan cannot help but remind the audience of the spectacular finale of The Birth of a Nation (1915) in which D. W. Griffith presents us with the Ku Klux Klan as an heroic vigilante group successfully defeating in violent battle the corrupt black and mulatto politicians of the Reconstructionist South and thereby reuniting two families—the Stonemans of Pennsylvania and the Camerons of South Carolina—by means of marriages which serve as emblems of “the birth of a nation” after the disasters of the Civil War. Lee’s shot is not a direct quotation from Griffith’s film, but it makes a clear allusion to a shot within the sequence called “The Summoning of the Clans,” where Griffith portrays the various clans gathering for their final attack on the carpetbaggers who have taken over South Carolina. That there is such an allusion in Malcolm X may seem utterly unbelievable, but Lee’s shooting script confirms that the scene should include a shot in which “[t]he Klan breaks all the windows in the house then rides off into the glorious D. W. Griffith Birth of a Nation moonlit night” (Lee 1992, 174)."

- Endo, Paul. "Freud's Psychoanalysis: Interpretation and Property." American Imago 55, no. 4 (1998): 459-482.

 

 

From the Filmmaker

 

 

From the Critic

 

"The much-hyped "Malcolm X" happens to be a spiritually enriching testament to the human capacity for change -- and surely Spike Lee's most universally appealing film. An engrossing mosaic of history, myth and sheer conjecture, this ambitious epic manages to sustain itself for 3 hours 21 minutes, and also overcomes an early frivolity of tone and Lee's intrusiveness to achieve a stature befitting its subject. Lee, whose enormous affection for his hero suffuses his work, nevertheless resists the temptation to sanitize Malcolm as Richard Attenborough did Gandhi. The civil rights leader, as eloquently portrayed by Denzel Washington, emerges as an immensely likable human being -- a onetime black separatist who overcame his own prejudices. Still, this biopic will ruffle a few white feathers -- and probably a few black ones too; that's a given -- but "Malcolm X" addresses itself to all Americans, reminding us none too gently with its opening footage of the Rodney King beating that the work is never done.

 

Though the film covers 40 of the most turbulent years in our society, it seems oddly isolated from its time and place, almost as if the characters were trapped in a snow globe. This segregation may be purposeful, even astute, on Lee's part, but it denies Malcolm his historical underpinnings. And there's a theatricality to the crowd and street scenes that give the film the look of a Broadway play. Lee, who directs the way other people order Chinese food, brings all manner of styles and moods to the film's four chapters -- Malcolm's troubled youth, his conversion to Islam, his ministry and his pilgrimage to Mecca. It's Washington's formidable task to pull all of them all together, to reconcile the disparate Malcolms, which he does with uncanny ease. To make sense of the internal struggle, it's essential to know the tragedies of Malcolm's childhood, as recounted here in the Lee screenplay based on Alex Haley's "The Autobiography of Malcolm X.""

- Rita Kempley, The Washington Post

 

 

From the Public

 

"A staggering work in the art of biographical filmmaking. To portray a truthful depiction of a man as controversial and complicated as Malcolm X would seem a near impossible task. Spike Lee does so with fiery energy, creating a film which promotes empathy but also does no sugarcoating in the portrayal.

 

The film shifts in genre and style throughout in run, paralleling the evolving identity of its subject. You see the physical, moral, and intellectual transformation in Malcolm from his early life of racketeering and burglary, his transformation in prison into becoming a spokesman for the Nation of Islam and Elijah Muhammad, and his breaking away from the NOI into his own independent identity which becomes more accepting of the Civil Rights movement (and the formed identity he is ultimately killed for).

 

Spike Lee pushes to be fair in his portrait of Malcolm, one that is dynamic and never static. By seeing Malcom’s origin and then transformation, it leads the viewer to at least understand why Malcolm thought the way that he did and how that thought changed and developed through time." - @The Panda

 

 

Factoids

 

Previous Year's Rankings

2012 - Unranked, 2013 - Unranked, 2014 - Unranked, 2016 - Unranked, 2018 - Unranked, 2020 - Unranked, 2022 – #96

 

Director Count

J. Cameron (2), A. Kurosawa (2), D. Lynch (2), R. Allers (1), R. Altman (1), J. Demy (1), C.T. Dreyer (1), M. Forman (1), W. Friedkin (1), M. Kobayashi (1), S. Lee (1), S. Leone (1), L. McCarey (1), R. Minkoff (1), C. Nolan (1), J. Peele (1), R. Scott (1), M.N. Shyamalan (1), V.D. Sica (1), G. Trousdale (1), K. Wise (1)

 

Decade Count

1980s (4), 1990s (4), 1960s (3), 2000s (3), 1950s (2), 1970s (2), 1920s (1), 1930s (1), 1940s (1), 2010s (1)

 

International Film Count

Japan (3), France (2), Italy (2)

 

Franchise Count

WDAS (2), Alien (1), Avatar (1), Exorcist (1), Gladiator (1), Man With No Name (1)

 

Genre Count

Historical Fiction (7), Drama (5), Horror (4), Musical (4), Comedy (3), Epic (3), Action (2), Adventure (2), Animation (2), Fantasy (2), Jidaigeki (2), Noir (2), Sci-Fi (2), Thriller (2), Tragedy (2), Coming of Age (1), Mystery (1), Neorealism (1), Romance (1), Western (1)

 

 

A Recipe

Street Foraged Dandelion Flowers (inspired by the dish cooked by Malcolm Little's mother)

 

Ingredients

*If foraging dandelions from the streets, be careful that the soil or plant is not contaminated from toxins or pesticides.

2 larger dandelion plants
6–10 dandelion flowers
tempura batter
vegetable oil
gochugaru (Korean dried red pepper flakes) or gochujang (Korean red pepper paste)
3 tablespoons vinegar
1 teaspoon corn syrup
2 cloves garlic minced
1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds
honey or sugar (optional)

 

Instructions

Japanese style tempura (蒲公英 天麩羅):

Pluck flowers from stems.
Wash flowers thoroughly, and let sit.
For the tempura batter, use tempura batter from store.
Mix water in slowly and carefully until you have a thick, pasty batter.
Heat vegetable oil in pan on medium-high to high.
Dip flowers in batter, coating the flower thoroughly.
Add battered flowers to hot oil.
Fry until a crispy, golden brown.
Garnish with uncooked dandelion flowers (edible) and lemon slices.
The two styles pair well with each other.
Plate, serve, and enjoy.

 

 

From: https://nuzen.medium.com/recipes-of-the-unfortunate-malcolm-x-and-the-dandelion-eaten-two-ways-2c5685afc814

 

 

[Eric Deetz]

43 minutes ago, The Panda said:

It seems we have an error. Apparently, all of those voters voting for "Beauty and the Beast" demanded I "give them the Disneyland version", instead of the widely beloved French classic from 1946.

 

Although others are telling me Cocteau could still remain president (of spot number 80) if I only had the courage...

 

Number 80

 

 

"Tale as old as time."

 

Synopsis

 

"Join brave, independent Belle on the adventure of a lifetime as she sets out to rescue her father---and discovers the enchanted castle of a mysterious beast. Enjoy this timeless tale overflowing with unforgettable characters and music you'll never forget, universally acclaimed as one of Walt Disney Animation Studios' finest features." - Disney+

 

From the Scholar

 

"When Disney's Beauty and the Beast was released late in 1991, critics hailed the film for its apparently innovative portrayal of the heroine, Belle.1In Newsweek, David Arisen claimed that "from the start, the filmmakers knew they didn't want Belle to be the passive character of the original story or a carbon copy of Ariel in The Little Mermaid, a creation some critics found cloyingly sexist" (75). In MacLean's, Brian Johnson praised Disney for "break[ing] the sexist mould of its fairy-tale heroines. . . . Beauty and the Beast spells out its enlightenment in no uncertain terms" (56). And in The New York Times, Janet Maslin asserted that Belle is "a smart, independent heroine . . . who makes a conspicuously better role model than the marriage-minded Disney heroines of the past" (1). But in spite of this insistence that Belle is a strong female character, that this fairy tale is "different," I saw the same old story, a romance plot that robs female characters of self-determination and individuality. Not at all a feminist movie, Disney's Beauty and the Beast slips easily into the mold of almost all other popular versions of fairy tales; that is, it encourages young viewers to believe that true happiness for women exists only in the arms of a prince and that their most important quest is finding that prince.

 

Although it is clear that "Beauty and the Beast" has always been in part a love story, earlier printed versions of the tale offer valuable lessons in addition to emphasizing the love relationship. Disney, on the other hand, strips the traditional fairy tale of anything but the romantic trajectory, throws in a dose of violence, and woos its vast audience into believing it has been educated as well as entertained. Disney's Beauty and the Beast, while initially presenting a more interesting and better developed heroine than those we find in other Disney animated features, undermines the gains it makes by focusing narrative attention on courtship as plot advancement and marriage as dénouement. Certainly, romantic love is an important part of people's lives. But if we want children to develop balanced views of relationships between men and women and of their own identities as active individuals with full access to society, we should question the messages sent by such films.

 

The deleterious effects of concluding fairy tales with marriage have been extensively examined by such critics as Marcia K. Lieberman and Karen Rowe. Lieberman points out that while [End Page 22] such stories end with marriage, the action of the story is concerned with courtship,

 

which is magnified into the most important and exciting part of a girl's life, brief though courtship is, because it is the part of her life in which she most counts as a person herself. After marriage she ceases to be wooed, her consent is no longer sought, she derives her status from her husband, and her personal identity is thus snuffed out. When fairy tales show courtship as exciting, and conclude with marriage, and the vague statement that "they lived happily ever after," children may develop a deep-seated desire always to be courted, since marriage is literally the end of the story.

 

 

...

 

If Disney claims to be updating fairy tales for contemporary children by eliminating sexism and creating strong female characters, then Disney is subject to an examination of these aspirations. To be sure, it is important to remember that Belle is an improvement on earlier Disney heroines. She is presented as a much more well-rounded person, with interests, goals, and aspirations. More than just a self-sacrificing, devoted daughter, Belle shows gumption when she stands up to the Beast, curiosity when she explores the forbidden West Wing, and rebellion when she runs away from the castle.10 But these traits, in and of themselves, are not rewarded or acknowledged as the tale closes. The emphasis is on Belle's nurturing tenderness, her beauty, her sexuality, and her happily-ever-after commitment to the Beast. Each of the refreshing traits set up at the beginning of the story is diminished or eliminated. The importance of Belle as a reader is greatly reduced. We do not see her travel beyond her village and the neighboring palace. We do not know whether she develops any new interests or ideas. Instead, we find her in virtually the same position as Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella at the end of their stories: by the side of her prince. The capitulation of Disney's Beauty and the Beast to the romance plot is complete. Because it aspired to move beyond this conclusion and snared us into thinking that it might, the Disney version is ultimately more dangerous than the most blatantly sexist fairy tales. Recognizing this danger is the first step in transforming that beast."

- Cummins, June. "Romancing the Plot: The Real Beast of Disney's Beauty and the Beast." Children's Literature Association Quarterly 20, no. 1 (1995): 22-28.

 

From the Filmmaker

 

 

From the Critic

 

"A lovely film that ranks with the best of Disney’s animated classics, Beauty and the Beast is a tale freshly retold. Darker-hued than the usual animated feature, with a predominant brownish-gray color scheme balanced by Belle’s blue dress and radiant features, Beauty [from the classic French fairy tale] engages the emotions with an unabashed sincerity that manages to avoid the pitfalls of triteness and corn.

 

The character of Belle, magnificently voiced by Paige O’Hara, is a brainy young woman scorned as a bookworm by her townsfolk and kidnaped by the Beast. She finds her initial aversion overcome by a growing appreciation of his inner beauty and sensitivity. While the usually soft-spoken Robby Benson might seem an odd choice for the voice of the Beast, his booming bass voice in the early sections and the increasingly boyish timbre of his voice in the later parts perfectly capture the character’s complexity."

- Variety

 

 

From the Public

 

"Most interestingly, the movie is a subtle but damning musing on masculinity. Gaston, one of Disney's scariest villains, is Narcissus, who uses his looks and physique to rule over the town, despite not have any other qualifications. The Beast is a violent manchild who must learn that he cannot lash out in fits of violence and automatically get his way; and he must learn empathy and kindness, in order to escape his curse and truly be human.

 

Howard Ashman was an immense talent who we lost too soon. "Tale As Old As Time" is so simple yet earnest as sung by Angela Lansbury. His lyrics are top notch throughout, particularly in the unsung hero of the show: “The Mob Song.” What a climax! Panicked! Fast! Crazed Madness! I also love the story that Alan Menken wrote part of the fight scene in like ten minutes as a placeholder, but when he went back to write the “real part” they couldn’t think of anything better. True geniuses.

 

Beauty and the Beast is Howard Ashman and Alan Menken’s magnum opus; not only is it one of the best movies (live action or animated) of all time, it is one of the best musicals of all time."

- @Cap

 

 

Factoids

 

Previous Year's Rankings

2012 - #77, 2013 - #68, 2014 - #44, 2016 - #47, 2018 - #40, 2020 - #54, 2022 – #34

 

Director Count

J. Cameron (2), A. Kurosawa (2), D. Lynch (2), R. Allers (1), R. Altman (1), J. Demy (1), C.T. Dreyer (1), M. Forman (1), W. Friedkin (1), M. Kobayashi (1), S. Leone (1), L. McCarey (1), R. Minkoff (1), C. Nolan (1), J. Peele (1), R. Scott (1), M.N. Shyamalan (1), V.D. Sica (1), G. Trousdale (1), K. Wise (1)

 

Decade Count

1980s (4), 1960s (3), 1990s (3), 2000s (3), 1950s (2), 1970s (2), 1920s (1), 1930s (1), 1940s (1), 2010s (1)

 

International Film Count

Japan (3), France (2), Italy (2)

 

Franchise Count

WDAS (2), Alien (1), Avatar (1), Exorcist (1), Gladiator (1), Man With No Name (1)

 

Genre Count

Historical Fiction (6), Drama (4), Horror (4), Musical (4), Comedy (3), Action (2), Adventure (2), Animation (2), Epic (2), Fantasy (2), Jidaigeki (2), Noir (2), Sci-Fi (2), Thriller (2), Tragedy (2), Coming of Age (1), Mystery (1), Neorealism (1), Romance (1), Western (1)

 

 

A Recipe

The "Grey Stuff" (from Disney World's "Be Our Guest" Restaurant)

 

Ingredients 
▢1 3.4 oz vanilla pudding mix
▢1 1/2 cups milk
▢15 oreos
▢8 oz cool whip
▢2 tbsp chocolate pudding mix
▢sprinkles

 

Instructions 
In a medium bowl, combine pudding mix and milk. Whisk well and refrigerate for 10 minutes.
Place Oreos in a food processor and blend until they become crumbs.
Mix the crushed Oreos in with the pudding mixture and mix well.
Fold in Cool Whip and chocolate pudding mix until well combined and refrigerate for one hour before serving.
When ready to serve, place “grey stuff” in a piping bag and add a dollop to the middle and then pipe a spiral around it. Top with sprinkles.
ENJOY!

 

 

From: https://lilluna.com/grey-stuff-recipe/

 

 

good movie imo

[The Panda]

Number 78

 

 

"I am the Third Revelation! I am who the Lord has chosen!"

 

Synopsis

 

"A sprawling epic of family, faith, power and oil, THERE WILL BE BLOOD is set on the incendiary frontier of California�s turn-of-the-century petroleum boom. The story chronicles the life and times of one Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis), who transforms himself from a down-and-out silver miner raising a son on his own into a self-made oil tycoon. When Plainview gets a mysterious tip-off that there�s a little town out West where an ocean of oil is oozing out of the ground, he heads with his son, H.W. (Dillon Freasier), to take their chances in dust-worn Little Boston. In this hardscrabble town, where the main excitement centers around the holy roller church of charismatic preacher Eli Sunday (Paul Dano), Plainview and H.W. make their lucky strike. But even as the well raises all of their fortunes, nothing will remain the same as conflicts escalate and every human value � love, hope, community, belief, ambition and even the bond between father and son � is imperiled by corruption, deception and the flow of oil."

- Amazon Desscription for Collector's Edition

 

 

From the Scholar

 

"Volunteer, pro-social activities represent a substantial part of social life. In the United States, for example, charitable giving totals over $260 billion, or around 1.9 percent of personal income (Andreoni 2008), and the estimated value of volunteer time is over $240 billion (Independent Sector 2006). The number of nonprofit organizations registered with the IRS grew by about 60 percent between 1995 and 2005 (List 2011). For many of these activities, however, supply is still below societal needs. Thus, understanding and improving the performance of pro-social activities are of great relevance for researchers and policymakers.

 

This is certainly the case with human blood. Blood transfusions are required in such critical situations as massive blood loss due to trauma, blood replacement during surgeries, the treatment of premature babies as well as for certain types of cancer and blood-related diseases. In recent years, the demand for blood has increased dramatically due to many reasons including an aging population and new medical and surgical procedures, such as organ transplants. Although many individuals are eligible to donate blood and numerous awareness campaigns promote its importance, only a small percentage of eligible individuals (under 10 percent) donate blood in the United States and other developed countries, and even fewer do so in developing countries. As a consequence, blood supply shortages (as defined by the supply of blood being below what is necessary for three days) have become the norm rather than the exception (Di Rado 2004; Hemobiotech 2008; Oakley 1996).1 Thus, relative to society’s needs, it appears that the individual benefits of donating blood fall short of the costs. This raises the question of whether “pure” altruism is sufficient to guarantee a sufficient, steady supply of blood. "

- Lacetera, Nicola, Mario Macis, and Robert Slonim. 2012. "Will There Be Blood? Incentives and Displacement Effects in Pro-social Behavior." American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 4 (1): 186–223.

 

From the Filmmaker

 

 

From the Critic

 

"Paul Thomas Anderson becomes California's certified cinematic poet laureate with "There Will Be Blood," his masterful account of the state's oil boom at the turn of the century. On the heels of Anderson's previous films "Boogie Nights" and "Magnolia," both of which chronicled the recent history and culture of Los Angeles and its environs, Anderson has now joined the ranks of such definitive California writers as Nathanael West and Joan Didion in crafting his own personal and potent version of the state's creation myth. If "There Will Be Blood" represents a reach back into time for a filmmaker whose canvas has always been contemporary, it is also unquestionably an ambitious leap forward, proving that Anderson is an artist of virtually unlimited range and confidence.

 

Its sanguinary title notwithstanding, Anderson's visionary, often startling take on the classic western actually features relatively little of the substance. Instead, it is oil that trickles, flows and gushes with viscous promiscuity throughout a sweeping epic of enterprise, aspiration, greed and hubris. But blood provides a constant subtext in this by turns classical and audacious portrait of California's founding and, by extension, the forging of the American identity. What better backdrop than the harsh, unforgiving edge of a country to explore the shadowy boundaries of its deepest anxieties and most febrile dreams?"

- Ann Hornaday, The Washington Post

 

From the Public

 

"Boring..." - @Lordmandeep

 

(Which means you should take this as a ringing endorsement!)

 

 

Factoids

 

Previous Year's Rankings

2012 - #27, 2013 - #34, 2014 - #99, 2016 - #66, 2018 - #95, 2020 - Unranked, 2022 – Unranked

 

Director Count

J. Cameron (2), A. Kurosawa (2), D. Lynch (2), R. Allers (1), R. Altman (1), P.T. Anderson (1), J. Demy (1), C.T. Dreyer (1), M. Forman (1), W. Friedkin (1), M. Kobayashi (1), S. Lee (1), S. Leone (1), L. McCarey (1), R. Minkoff (1), C. Nolan (1), J. Peele (1), R. Scott (1), M.N. Shyamalan (1), V.D. Sica (1), G. Trousdale (1), K. Wise (1)

 

Decade Count

1980s (4), 1990s (4), 2000s (4), 1960s (3), 1950s (2), 1970s (2), 1920s (1), 1930s (1), 1940s (1), 2010s (1)

 

International Film Count

Japan (3), France (2), Italy (2)

 

Franchise Count

WDAS (2), Alien (1), Avatar (1), Exorcist (1), Gladiator (1), Man With No Name (1)

 

Genre Count

Historical Fiction (8), Drama (6), Epic (4), Horror (4), Musical (4), Comedy (3), Action (2), Adventure (2), Animation (2), Fantasy (2), Jidaigeki (2), Noir (2), Sci-Fi (2), Thriller (2), Tragedy (2), Western (2), Coming of Age (1), Mystery (1), Neorealism (1), Romance (1)

 

 

A Recipe

Olive Oil Milkshake

Ingredients
▢2 cups vanilla ice cream, slightly softened
▢1/4 cup whole milk
▢2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
▢sea salt

Instructions
In a blender, combine ice cream, milk, and olive oil. Process until smooth.
Pour into serving glasses and sprinkle with sea salt.

 

 

From: https://www.onionringsandthings.com/olive-oil-milkshake/

 

 

Edited July 25 by The Panda

[The Panda]

Number 77

 

 

"Whoa... He stole that guy's pizza!"

 

Synopsis

 

"Peter Parker is going through a major identity crisis. Burned out from being Spider-Man, he decides to shelve his superhero alter ego, which leaves the city suffering in the wake of carnage left by the evil Doc Ock. In the meantime, Parker still can't act on his feelings for Mary Jane Watson, a girl he's loved since childhood. A certain anger begins to brew in his best friend Harry Osborn as well..." - The Movie Database

 

 

From the Scholar

 

"Spider-Man 2's opening sequence, because it introduces several of the film's most important 9/11 and post-9/11 themes, deserves special attention. In his red, white, and blue superhero costume, Spider-Man symbolizes the America of exceptionalist discourse: superhuman, courageous, self-sacrificing, protective of the weak. However, as his fans know, Peter Parker, the nerdy, teenaged alter-ego of Spider-Man, is no stranger to embarrassments, whether in Spider-Man films or in the enormously popular comic book series.9 However, in the first half of Spider-Man 2, Parker's ineffectuality and subsequent humiliations are repeated ad nauseum. Parker is so repeatedly shamed in order for the film to delineate and overcome the American vulnerability that allowed 9/1 1 to happen.

From the film's opening, as he weaves through the crowd on a Manhattan sidewalk on his scooter, dreamily mooning over a billboard of his secret love, Mary Jane Watson, Parker cuts a pitiable figure. His moped is tiny, his helmet looks silly, and he is late returning to his job as a delivery boy for Joe's Pizza. Parker nearly collides with his boss, the Middle Eastener Mr. Aziz.

 

The dismantling of Bush's demonized Other begins very early in this film. An exasperated supervisor who has given Parker many chances to succeed, Aziz yells at Parker for returning late once again (although viewers know as Parker surreptitiously stuffs his SpiderMan costume into a pocket that he must have been detained on heroic business). "You're a nice guy, but you're just not dependable," Aziz sadly tells his employee. As Parker was late in returning from the previous delivery, he now has to go, according to Aziz, "Forty-two blocks in seven and a half minutes or your ass is fired." The Middle Eastern boss Aziz speaks these lines not as a shrieking tyrant, but with frustration and resignation.

 

 

...

 

The film's second concern is American economic vulnerability, first revealed because a "foreigner" is in charge of "Joe's Pizza," a place that through the very blandness of its name should suggest white American ownership. As demonstrated by Parker's repeated scenes of penury and by the financial distress of his Aunt May whose home (where Parker grew up) is about to be foreclosed, American is financially debilitated.10 We learn that Parker has borrowed money from a young secretary who works at the Daily Bugle, Parker's second job. When Jameson finally gives $20 to Parker, he hands the bill over to the young woman. Pitying him, she reminds Parker that the twenty will not cover his debt and allows him to keep the money. Variations on this embarrassing theme are incessantly reenacted in the film, reflecting a significant (and, as perceived by most white middle-class sufferers, unfair) reality for 2004 America.

 

From 2001-04, the Bush Administration slashed domestic spending and redistributed wealth increasing the impoverishment of most Americans. By 2004, "the top 1 percent of Americans took 16% of the national income - whereas in Japan, it took a little over 8% and Sweden, it took just under 6%..." ("Haves and Have-Nots.") The first major Bush tax benefitted the wealthiest Americans: "the 2001 tax cut gave almost 40 percent of the cut to the richest 1%." The 2003 tax break played out so that for those with incomes under $10,000, the savings amounted to $5. Eight million taxpayers received nothing. Another 6.5 million low-income taxpayers did not receive a $400 childcare credit, a move which penalized 12 million children. The percentage of American poor "in extreme poverty" rose from 29.9% in 1975 to 43.1% in 2005 ("Haves and Have-Nots.")"

- Holland, Jeanne.  The Journal of American Culture; Malden Vol. 35, Iss. 4,  (Dec 2012): 289-303.

 

From the Filmmaker

 

 

From the Critic

 

"Kerpow! Kerching! Spider-Man 2 is upon us. But beware, there is as much talk as action in the second edition, and not all hard-core aficionados of Marvel Comics may approve. They would be wrong, however, to regret that the farfrom-illiterate comic strip has been made into a very literate popcorn movie. Its makers understand that it is not enough just to spread lashings of computerised special effects around and hope for the best.

 

What we have is a character and plot-driven film, as much as a summer-time spectacular. Sam Raimi, director of the first film, orchestrates the sequel with a knowing skill. It looks as if the suits haven't got in his way this time, and giving him and screenwriter Alvin Sargent their heads has paid significant dividends."

- Derek Malcolm, The London Evening Standard

 

From the Public

 

"the virgin amazing spider-man:
- responsibility, no power
- listens to phillip phillips unironically
- shares diluted to 0.03%
- skater
- has never seen a girl

 

the chad mcu spider-man:
- power, no responsibility 
- girls are fine but legos are better
- can’t do anything w/o sugar daddy iron man
- snap score hit 1m last week 
- favorite movie is the lion king (2019), doesn’t know it’s a remake

 

the thad raimi/maguire spider-man:
- power & responsibility 
- ironic dancing 
- respectful to women but not a simp
- relatable (can’t pay rent, occasionally emo)
- reads poetry, Augustine, probably"

- travis k, Letterboxd

 

 

Factoids

 

Previous Year's Rankings

2012 - Unranked, 2013 - #55, 2014 - #61, 2016 - #86, 2018 - Unranked, 2020 - #73, 2022 – Unranked

 

Director Count

J. Cameron (2), A. Kurosawa (2), D. Lynch (2), R. Allers (1), R. Altman (1), P.T. Anderson (1), J. Demy (1), C.T. Dreyer (1), M. Forman (1), W. Friedkin (1), M. Kobayashi (1), S. Lee (1), S. Leone (1), L. McCarey (1), R. Minkoff (1), C. Nolan (1), J. Peele (1), S. Raimi (1), R. Scott (1), M.N. Shyamalan (1), V.D. Sica (1), G. Trousdale (1), K. Wise (1)

 

Decade Count

2000s (5), 1980s (4), 1990s (4), 1960s (3), 1950s (2), 1970s (2), 1920s (1), 1930s (1), 1940s (1), 2010s (1)

 

International Film Count

Japan (3), France (2), Italy (2)

 

Franchise Count

WDAS (2), Alien (1), Avatar (1), Exorcist (1), Gladiator (1), Man With No Name (1), Spider-Man (1)

 

Genre Count

Historical Fiction (8), Drama (6), Epic (4), Horror (4), Musical (4), Comedy (3), Action (2), Adventure (2), Animation (2), Fantasy (2), Jidaigeki (2), Noir (2), Sci-Fi (2), Thriller (2), Tragedy (2), Western (2), Coming of Age (1), Mystery (1), Neorealism (1), Romance (1), Superhero (1)

 

 

A Recipe

Joe's Pizza Slice Recipe

 

 

 

Ingredients:

For the dough:

2 cups AP flour
2 cups Whole-Wheat flour
1 envelope/ 2 ½ teaspoons Active Dry Yeast
• 2 teaspoons Honey
• Fine Sea Salt 2 teaspoons
• 1 1/3 cups of Lukewarm Water
• 2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil

For the sauce:

4 Tablespoons of Extra-virgin Olive Oil
2 large garlic cloves minced
• 1 ½ cups whole peeled tomatoes canned
• ½ cup torn Basil leaves for garnish
• 4 ounces of fresh Mozzarella, thinly sliced for garnish
• ½ teaspoon Oregano
1 teaspoon Salt and freshly ground Pepper

 

Make sure you preheat your oven to 500 degrees and cook pizza for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown! 

 

From: https://hardcoreitalians.blog/2020/07/27/how-to-make-the-iconic-new-york-slice-at-home-joes-pizza/

 

 

 

[The Panda]

 

206.    Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (dir. Alfonso Cuaron, 2004)
207.    Margaret (dir. Kenneth Lonergan, 2011)
208.    Eraserhead (dir. David Lynch, 1977)
209.    Shaun of the Dead (dir. Edgar Wright, 2004)
210.    The Searchers (dir. John Ford, 1956)
 

Edited July 25 by The Panda

[The Panda]

Number 76

 

 

"That was the everlasting moment he had been waiting for. And the moment had passed, for Monica was sound asleep."

 

Synopsis

 

""A.I. Artificial Intelligence" is a 2001 science fiction film directed by Steven Spielberg, set in a future where robots, or mechas, coexist with humans. The story follows David, a highly advanced robotic child designed to love unconditionally, who is adopted by a human family. After being abandoned when the family’s real son recovers, David embarks on a quest to become a real boy in hopes of being loved again. His journey through a world of robots and humans raises profound questions about identity, consciousness, and the nature of love, blending emotional depth with stunning futuristic visuals."

- ChatGPT stealing from various better sources

 

 

From the Scholar

 

"This is a bleakly deterministic, distinctly Freudian
view of the human condition, a vision of human beings wasting their lives blindly chasing after unconscious goals just as hopelessly fixed and childish as
David’s—most often the idealized image of a parent.
Whether we accept this model of human behavior or
not, A.I. convincingly creates its own closed and desolate worldview. Every character in the Ž lm seems as
preprogrammed as David, obsessed with the image of
a lost loved one, and tries to replace that person with
a technological simulacrum. Dr. Hobby designed
David as an exact duplicate of his own dead child, the
original David; Monica used him as a substitute for
her comatose son; and, completing the sad cycle two
thousand years later, David comforts himself with a
cloned copy of Monica

 

It’s also, finally, a film about human brutality, callousness, and greed.

A.I. is one of the most unsentimental visions of mankind since—well, since Stanley
Kubrick died. David, who will become “the living
memory of the human race, the lasting proof of their
genius,” is exploited by his creators, mistrusted by his
father, betrayed by his brother, abandoned by his
mother, and hunted, caged, and almost executed for
the amusement of crowds. This isn’t the same old story
about a little boy who becomes human; it’s a new story
about the death of humanity itself."

- Kreider, Tim. "AI: Artificial Intelligence." Film Quarterly 56, no. 2 (2002): 32-39.

 

 

From the Filmmaker

 

 

From the Critic

 

"A collaboration between the living Steven Spielberg and the late Stanley Kubrick seems appropriate to a project that reflects profoundly on the differences between life and nonlife. Kubrick started this picture and came up with the idea that Spielberg should direct it, and after inheriting a 90-page treatment Kubrick had prepared with Ian Watson and 600 drawings he’d done with Chris Baker, Spielberg finished it in so much his own manner that it may be his most personal film, as well as his most thoughtful. It might make you cry; it’s just as likely to give you the creeps—which is as it should be. This is a movie people will be arguing about for many years to come (2001). " - Jonathan Rosenbaum, The Chicago Reader

 

 

From the Public

 

"From the second Monica Swinton and her "young" surrogate robot son are introduced it feels likes Spielberg has gotten his hooks into you. The uneasiness and almost too effective terror of the new scenario that quickly gives way to just unbridled love. Honestly feels like Frances O'Conner is giving an all time great performance here. The tenderness shared between the two characters is absolutely palpable. As the story shifts from domestic drama to a more rollicking sci-fi adventure at such a late stage in the movie it would be easy to think that it might unfold at this point. But the film always remains firmly rooted in the longing for that connection. I don't think I would've minded having had a longer path to get there but the total lofty ambition and total sweetness of what this movie's conclusion is undeniable in the hands of this master film maker." - @Ethan Hunt

 

 

Factoids

 

Previous Year's Rankings

2012 - Unranked, 2013 - Unranked, 2014 - Unranked, 2016 - Unranked, 2018 - Unranked, 2020 - Unranked, 2022 – #72

 

Director Count

J. Cameron (2), A. Kurosawa (2), D. Lynch (2), R. Allers (1), R. Altman (1), P.T. Anderson (1), J. Demy (1), C.T. Dreyer (1), M. Forman (1), W. Friedkin (1), M. Kobayashi (1), S. Lee (1), S. Leone (1), L. McCarey (1), R. Minkoff (1), C. Nolan (1), J. Peele (1), S. Raimi (1), R. Scott (1), M.N. Shyamalan (1), V.D. Sica (1), S. Spielberg (1), G. Trousdale (1), K. Wise (1)

 

Decade Count

2000s (6), 1980s (4), 1990s (4), 1960s (3), 1950s (2), 1970s (2), 1920s (1), 1930s (1), 1940s (1), 2010s (1)

 

International Film Count

Japan (3), France (2), Italy (2)

 

Franchise Count

WDAS (2), Alien (1), Avatar (1), Exorcist (1), Gladiator (1), Man With No Name (1), Spider-Man (1)

 

Genre Count

Historical Fiction (8), Drama (6), Epic (4), Horror (4), Musical (4), Comedy (3), Sci-Fi (3), Action (2), Adventure (2), Animation (2), Fantasy (2), Jidaigeki (2), Noir (2), Thriller (2), Tragedy (2), Western (2), Coming of Age (1), Mystery (1), Neorealism (1), Romance (1), Superhero (1)

 

A Recipe

ChatGPT generating a recipe, do not try this untested recipe at home!

 

Let’s create a recipe that’s inspired by the movie "A.I. Artificial Intelligence." This film explores themes of humanity, technology, and futuristic worlds. To reflect these themes, we can create a dish that's both sophisticated and futuristic:

 

"AI-Enhanced Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms."

AI-Enhanced Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms
Ingredients:
For the Mushrooms:

6 large Portobello mushrooms (stems removed and gills scraped out)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
Salt and pepper to taste
For the Stuffing:

1 cup quinoa (rinsed)
2 cups vegetable broth
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup baby spinach, chopped
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted
1/4 cup nutritional yeast (for a cheesy flavor)
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried thyme
Salt and pepper to taste
For the Topping:

1/4 cup vegan Parmesan cheese (or regular Parmesan if preferred)
Fresh basil leaves, for garnish

 

Instructions:
Preheat Oven:

Preheat your oven to 375°F (190°C).
Prepare the Mushrooms:

Brush the Portobello mushrooms with olive oil and season with garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper.
Place them gill-side up on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Cook the Quinoa:

In a medium saucepan, bring the vegetable broth to a boil. Add the quinoa, reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for about 15 minutes, or until the quinoa is cooked and the liquid is absorbed. Fluff with a fork and set aside.
Prepare the Stuffing:

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and garlic, and sauté until translucent, about 5 minutes.
Add the chopped spinach and cook until wilted.
Stir in the sun-dried tomatoes, pine nuts, and cooked quinoa.
Season with nutritional yeast, dried basil, dried thyme, salt, and pepper. Mix well and cook for an additional 2 minutes.
Stuff the Mushrooms:

Spoon the quinoa stuffing into each Portobello mushroom cap, pressing down gently to pack it in.
Bake the Mushrooms:

Sprinkle the stuffed mushrooms with vegan Parmesan cheese.
Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, or until the mushrooms are tender and the topping is golden brown.
Garnish and Serve:

Garnish with fresh basil leaves before serving.

Tips:
For added texture, consider mixing in some finely chopped olives or artichoke hearts.
To enhance the futuristic theme, you could serve these mushrooms with a side of "smart" salad, incorporating ingredients that are visually striking or have unique textures.
Enjoy this dish that merges sophisticated flavors with a hint of the futuristic, perfectly capturing the essence of "A.I. Artificial Intelligence!"

 

 

[The Panda]

Number 75

 

 

"This is a long way from Budapest."

 

Synopsis

 

"Clint Barton opens Avengers: Endgame with a warm scene of family bliss. He's teaching his tween daughter Lila how to hit a bullseye with an arrow, and she's nailing it. Off in the distance, his wife Laura (Linda Cardellini) picnics with their two sons. In the blink of an eye, his daughter vanishes. Barton calls out to his wife, but no one answers. His whole family, the thing that drives Hawkeye to be a protector, has disappeared in The Snap — and he could do nothing to stop it.

 

Barton gets trapped in the "anger" stage of grief, and five years later he is off the grid as the vigilante Ronin, dispatching criminals as judge, jury, and executioner. It's grim work, and it's corroding his soul worse than anything else he's ever done.

 

...

 

When he is finally tracked down by Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow, he talks as if he has become one of the bad guys. It's the opposite of her journey from coldblooded assassin to hero and defender of the right.

 

 

...

 

After their knock-down, drag-out on the planet Voromir to determine who would sacrifice themselves so the other could claim the Soul Stone, Clint is plagued with regret. Did he fight hard enough to go over the edge? Was a part of him holding back because he knew he had a family waiting for him if the un-Snapping was successful? Hawkeye wants to use the new tech gauntlet and recovered Infinity Stones to at least try — and The Hulk does, but it doesn't work. The trade is irreversible. Black Widow is gone.

 

In the epic final battle, Hawkeye manages to carry the fate of the world in his hands as he flees with the Infinity Gauntlet, like a football rushing play through the ferocious army of Outriders that Thanos has unleashed on the destroyed Avengers HQ. He succeeds, passing the "ball" off to Black Panther and others, until Tony Stark finally seizes the gems from Thanos' grasp and ends the threat once and for all. He pays the ultimate price for that, just as Natasha Romanoff did.

 

Hawkeye gets a loving reunion with his wife and children. The phone call he gets from Laura after Hulk's unSnappening is a weighty emotional moment as is, but when he can finally see them again, touch them again … it carries the weight of those friends he knows are still gone forever."

- Entertainment Weekly

 

From the Scholar

 

"Superheroes, such as Iron Man, Captain America, Wonder Woman, Batman, and Hawkeye, have appeared in numerous films, displaying their range of incredible superpowers and abilities. Therefore, it is unsurprising that many people would not only wish to attain these powers, but also to learn about scientific accessibility to these powers. Popular culture characters such as superheroes can provide a unique platform for the communication of difficult scientific concepts. In the classroom, these characters can be used to communicate learning objectives to students in an interesting, fun, and accessible manner by taking advantage of student familiarity with the characters. Hawkeye, a member of the Avengers, is one such superhero who can be utilized by educators. His powers can be attributed in part to his advanced eyesight, which has physiological aspects in common with many birds of prey. Hence, Hawkeye can instigate discussion on the physiology of the human eye, while also allowing for comparison with other species, such as birds of prey, and reflection on advancements related to genetic engineering and wearable technologies. In addition, in my experience, Hawkeye has proven to be a highly suitable popular culture character for use in scientific communication and outreach."

- Fitzgerald, Barry W. "Using Hawkeye from the Avengers to communicate on the eye." Advances in Physiology Education 42, no. 1 (2018): 90-98.
 

 

From the Filmmaker

 

 

From the Critic

 

"Avengers: Endgame opened with a haunting and emotional scene in which Clint Barton was confronted with the horror of the snap. No Avenger suffered more than Hawkeye from the snap; his wife and children were dusted, in a chilling and effective scene that drove home the human cost of Thanos' genocidal actions. Using this to open the film established a bleak, somber tone and established the scale of the threat facing the universe."

- Thomas Bacon, Screen Rant

 

From the Public

 

"I doubt I'm the first person to say it, but one thing I have personally noticed is that not many talk about Jeremy's performance in Endgame.

 

From the loss of his family, losing Natasha but gaining the soul stone, regaining his family and seeing evil Nebula thinking it was good Nebula.

 

Just something to discuss for y'all."

- FrozenChosenGoZen on Reddit

 

"Renner is probably one of her best actors in the MCU, but he was trapped in a limited character. Once the finally realised he needs a role, everyone sees it. Endgame was clearly his best MCU film, but I think he is going to absolutely own his series. The thing about Renner, he’s and incredible dramatic actor, but he is also an action-star, as well as even a bit comedic. These qualities need to be integrated in his role." 

- Teetreavelvet in response to FrozenChosenGoZen on Reddit

 

 

Factoids

 

Previous Year's Rankings

2012 - NA, 2013 - NA, 2014 - NA, 2016 - NA, 2018 - NA, 2020 - #75, 2022 – #67

 

Director Count

J. Cameron (2), A. Kurosawa (2), D. Lynch (2), R. Allers (1), R. Altman (1), P.T. Anderson (1), J. Demy (1), C.T. Dreyer (1), M. Forman (1), W. Friedkin (1), M. Kobayashi (1), S. Lee (1), S. Leone (1), L. McCarey (1), R. Minkoff (1), C. Nolan (1), J. Peele (1), S. Raimi (1), A. Russo (1), J. Russo (1), R. Scott (1), M.N. Shyamalan (1), V.D. Sica (1), S. Spielberg (1), G. Trousdale (1), K. Wise (1)

 

Decade Count

2000s (6), 1980s (4), 1990s (4), 1960s (3), 1950s (2), 1970s (2), 2010s (2)1920s (1), 1930s (1), 1940s (1)

 

International Film Count

Japan (3), France (2), Italy (2)

 

Franchise Count

WDAS (2), Alien (1), Avatar (1), Exorcist (1), Gladiator (1), Hawkguy Cinematic Universe (1), Man With No Name (1), Spider-Man (1)

 

Genre Count

Historical Fiction (8), Drama (6), Epic (4), Horror (4), Musical (4), Comedy (3), Sci-Fi (3), Action (2), Adventure (2), Animation (2), Fantasy (2), Jidaigeki (2), Noir (2), Superhero (2), Thriller (2), Tragedy (2), Western (2), Coming of Age (1), Mystery (1), Neorealism (1), Romance (1)

 

 

A Recipe

Hawkeye Casserole

 

Ingredients

4 slices of white bread or french bread
1/2 pound ground breakfast sausage, browned and drained
1 cup shredded monterey jack cheese
2 ounces cream cheese, cut into small pieces
1 (4 oz) can diced green chiles
6 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/4 tsp dry ground mustard
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp garlic powder

 

Instant Pot Instructions:

Spray the Instant Pot with non-stick cooking spray.
Cube the bread and place it in the bottom of the pot.
Layer on top the sausage, cheese, cream cheese, green chiles.
Whisk together the eggs, milk, mustard, salt, pepper and garlic powder. Pour the mixture over the top. 
Cover and refrigerate overnight.
In the morning use the slow cook setting on your Instant Pot to cook the casserole for about 2 hours and 30 minutes. Check for doneness and serve.

 

 

From: https://www.365daysofcrockpot.com/hawkeye-casserole/

 

 

Edited July 25 by The Panda

[The Panda]

Number 74

 

 

"You're darn tootin'!"

 

Synopsis

 

"Jerry, a small-town Minnesota car salesman is bursting at the seams with debt… but he’s got a plan. He’s going to hire two thugs to kidnap his wife in a scheme to collect a hefty ransom from his wealthy father-in-law. It’s going to be a snap and nobody’s going to get hurt… until people start dying. Enter Police Chief Marge, a coffee-drinking, parka-wearing - and extremely pregnant - investigator who’ll stop at nothing to get her man. And if you think her small-time investigative skills will give the crooks a run for their ransom… you betcha!" - Letterboxd

 

 

From the Scholar

 

"Fargo illustrates that violence often
occurs without a clear-cut reason; also,
it shows that violence (in all its variety)
is a function of particular desires, indeed is a certain type of desire itself.
Violence is a force-or rather a multiplicity of different forces—among all
other forces, no more, no less. Violence functions differently under different circumstances and thus needs to be
evaluated accordingly: immanent response as an ethical politics, not a priori
developed value judgments. Hence, to
claim that the ending of the film reasserts the moral stance of a Production
Code universe, that Fargo features Holence that is acceptable because of its
basis in reality or because the bad guy

get punished after all is to miss the
point of the film, which depicts a multitude of violence.

 

 

...

 

Hence, we might want to rethink the
issue of cinematic violence by thinking
about violence in terms of desires—
especially masochistic and/or sadistic
ones, but not exclusively, for there are
other desires apart from these two. I
hope this essay provides a starting point
for a discourse that ultimately will lead
us out of the impasse created by a long
tradition of moralizing film criticism

that is afraid of encountering film on its
own, immanent terms and instead insists on replacing cinema's internal image-system (which is different for each
film, in spite of possible resemblances)
with external concepts that are superimposed onto the text. It wishes to
re-produce (but not produce) a moral
framework that obliterates all of those
forces in and of a film that might potentially function as lines of flights-lines
that traverse at different speeds to different places on the plane of consistency, therefore creating new connections. Thus, a rhetoric of violence—a
violent rhetoric-must take seriously
Deleuze's contention (1997) that it is
necessary to abandon moralizing, "to
do away with judgments," since "judgment prevents the emergence of any
new mode of existence," and since
"what has value can be made or distinguished only by defying judgment" (p.
135). Fargo, as I have argued in this
essay, does not lend itself well to a
moralizing discourse, since its deployment of graphic violence merely heightens the fact that the film is all about the
production and implementation of a
crucial cinematic concept: the masochistic contract."

- Abel, M. (1999). Fargo:The violent production of the masochistic contract as a cinematic concept. Critical Studies in Mass Communication, 16(3), 308–328.

 

From the Filmmaker

 

 

From the Critic

 

"Frances McDormand is tremendously endearing as Marge Gunderson, a determined, keen-nosed cop who never gives up even though she is heavy with child, a characteristic that surely must be unique in the history of movie sleuthdom. The excellent Coen Brothers, Ethan who produces and Joel who directs, return to their chilly northern roots for this outstandingly quirky thriller which turns out to be an extremely engaging black comedy. The wintry settings are vivid, and make much of local idiosyncrasies. For instance, ordinary folk in Minnesota have an odd, sing-songy Swedish manner of speech, full of laconic sentences ending "Yah?" and the Coens have great fun with the dialogue. The plot concerns a slimy car salesman (William H Macy) who has hatched a ludicrous kidnap scheme in which his wife is supposed to be held to make her millionaire father cough up a ransom that will solve his money problems.

 

He hires two no-hoper crooks (Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare) to enact the deed which, predictably, is hopelessly botched, leaving corpses in the snow, and drawing the local police of Brainerd, Minnesota, headed by the redoubtable Marge onto their trail. The beauty of the film is in the subtle detail of the dialogue and performances which continue to enchant on repeat viewings. Visually, it is magnificent. The opening snowscape is so intensely white that you could be fooled into thinking something had gone horribly wrong with the projector (or your television) until an enormous kitsch statue of Paul Bunyan suddenly looms out of nowhere.

 

By the way, an in-joke of the film is the statement that it is a true story. In fact, it isn't anything of the sort, but it is a handsome fiction."

- George Perry, The BBC

 

 

From the Public

 

"having just watched los angeles plays itself, i’ve gained a whole lot of respect for movies that pay extra close attention to the cities they take place in. and as a minnesotan, i seriously cannot express how giddy i get watching this. i’m laughing at parts that aren’t even funny! i love my unbearably cold and uncool home. a perfect movie." - karsten, Letterboxd

 

Factoids

 

Previous Year's Rankings

2012 - #55, 2013 - #53, 2014 - #74, 2016 - #46, 2018 - #72, 2020 - Unranked, 2022 – #82

 

Director Count

J. Cameron (2), A. Kurosawa (2), D. Lynch (2), R. Allers (1), R. Altman (1), P.T. Anderson (1), J. Coen (1), J. Demy (1), C.T. Dreyer (1), M. Forman (1), W. Friedkin (1), M. Kobayashi (1), S. Lee (1), S. Leone (1), L. McCarey (1), R. Minkoff (1), C. Nolan (1), J. Peele (1), S. Raimi (1), A. Russo (1), J. Russo (1), R. Scott (1), M.N. Shyamalan (1), V.D. Sica (1), S. Spielberg (1), G. Trousdale (1), K. Wise (1)

 

Decade Count

2000s (6), 1990s (5), 1980s (4), 1960s (3), 1950s (2), 1970s (2), 2010s (2), 1920s (1), 1930s (1), 1940s (1)

 

International Film Count

Japan (3), France (2), Italy (2)

 

Franchise Count

WDAS (2), Alien (1), Avatar (1), Exorcist (1), Fargo (1), Gladiator (1), Hawkguy Cinematic Universe (1), Man With No Name (1), Spider-Man (1)

 

Genre Count

Historical Fiction (8), Drama (6), Comedy (4), Epic (4), Horror (4), Musical (4), Sci-Fi (3), Action (2), Adventure (2), Animation (2), Fantasy (2), Jidaigeki (2), Mystery (2), Noir (2), Superhero (2), Thriller (2), Tragedy (2), Western (2), Coming of Age (1), Crime (1), Neorealism (1), Romance (1)

 

 

A Recipe

Fargo Hot Dish

 

What You'll Need
1 pound ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 cups spaghetti sauce
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 ounces wide egg noodles, cooked and drained
1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well drained
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

What to Do
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat an 8-inch-square baking dish with cooking spray.
In a large skillet over medium-high heat, cook ground beef and onion 5 to 7 minutes, or until browned; drain off excess liquid. Stir in spaghetti sauce and pepper; heat 2 minutes.
In a medium bowl, combine cream cheese, sour cream, milk, garlic powder, and salt; mix well.
In the baking dish, layer half the noodles, half the meat mixture, half the cream cheese mixture, and all the spinach. Repeat layers with noodles, meat mixture, and cream cheese mixture. Cover with aluminum foil.
Bake 40 to 45 minutes, or until heated through. Remove foil, sprinkle with cheese, and bake 5 more minutes, or until cheese is melted.

 

 

From: https://www.mrfood.com/Casseroles/Fargo-Hot-Dish

 

 

[The Panda]

 

201.    Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (dir. Chris Columbus, 2001)
202.    The 400 Blows (dir. Francois Truffaut, 1959)
203.    Knives Out (dir. Rian Johnson, 2019)
204.    The Bridges of Madison County (dir. Clint Eastwood, 1995)
205.    Se7en (dir. David Fincher, 1995)

[The Panda]

Woops! I accidentally posted something before it was ready.

 

Edited July 25 by The Panda

[cannastop]

9 minutes ago, The Panda said:

202.    The 400 Blows (dir. Francois Truffaut, 1959)

Aww this was in my top 10. Dunno how it did other years.