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

[Ethan Hunt]

The Matrix is amazing. Only a shame that the even better sequel isn't in the top 20

[Eric the Marxist]

7 minutes ago, Menor the Destroyer said:

Deserved.

Menor.

[The Panda]

Number 18

 

 

"She dreamed of blue skies, soft breeze, and sunshine."

 

Synopsis

 

"An Academy Award–winning dark fable set five years after the end of the Spanish Civil War, Pan’s Labyrinth encapsulates the rich visual style and genre-defying craft of Guillermo del Toro. Eleven-year-old Ofelia (Ivana Baquero, in a mature and tender performance) comes face to face with the horrors of fascism when she and her pregnant mother are uprooted to the countryside, where her new stepfather (Sergi López), a sadistic captain in General Francisco Franco’s army, hunts down Republican guerrillas refusing to give up the fight. The violent reality in which Ofelia lives merges seamlessly with her fantastical interior world when she meets a faun in a decaying labyrinth and is set on a strange, mythic journey that is at once terrifying and beautiful. In his revisiting of this bloody period in Spanish history, del Toro creates a vivid depiction of the monstrosities of war infiltrating a child’s imagination and threatening the innocence of youth." - The Criterion Collection

 

 

From the Scholar

 

"Hollywood projects itself as a liberal and tolerant social institution,
even as a liberatory agent in the fight against prejudice and bigotry, a
courageous proponent of humanitarianism. It is, of course, a ridiculous
conceit and a necessary illusion, one well nourished over the past 30
years by the Christian Right in its endless attacks on Hollywood’s

socalled atheistic secularism and anything-goes cultural relativism. In
this way the religious Right and liberal Hollywood form a closed
circle. Corollaries of each other, they are also like mirrors in a funhouse,
for any person who passes through the apparatus must forget that the
whole experience has been put together by those who own and control
it, in order for the mirrors to produce the desired illusory effects.
Occasionally a film is distributed by Hollywood that breaks free of
this closed circle, a film that in fact did not come from Hollywood at all,
that is neither a pretentious “independent” production nor the work of
a veteran auteur like Brian De Palma, Francis Ford Coppola, or Sidney
Lumet. A film with mass appeal in terms of its aesthetics, yet boldly
dissonant and disjunctive ideologically. This happened in 2006 when
Hollywood released Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro’s
monster movie El laberinto del fauno,

marketed to American moviegoers as Pan’s Labyrinth.

While the film’s content, the establishment of fascist rule in
Franco’s Spain, helps to explain why Hollywood chose to distribute
and market the movie to American audiences – that is, as a way of
both appealing to the strong anti-Bush sentiment in the country and
showing at the same time that fascism is something that

happens somewhere else, that in the US such barbarism is unthinkable – its mythical
dimension, which constitutes Pan’s Labyrinth’s total form, offers a new
popular cinema aesthetic. My suggestion is that del Toro’s aesthetic

brings to the surface a startling absence in Hollywood film: the lack of
movies that use ancient or pre-capitalist mythology to animate stories
about modern capitalist social relations. In general, the

Hollywood aesthetic does the opposite: it superimposes present-day capitalist social
relations onto all history as if capitalism has no pre-history – as if it
has always existed exactly the way it is today."

- Hei Tsuei, K. (2008). The Antifascist Aesthetics of Pan’s Labyrinth. Socialism and Democracy, 22(2), 225–244.

 

 

From the Filmmaker

 

 

From the Critic

 

"Ofelia tells of a rare and beautiful night-blooming blue rose that once grew on a mountaintop (a reference not only to the lore of the blue Meconopsis poppy, but perhaps to David Lynch's "Twin Peaks" mythology), surrounded by poisonous thorns that made its mysterious beauty -- and properties of immortality -- inaccessible. The camera moves to the right and there's the rose and the mountain. Then it descends into the prickly brambles where a mantislike insect (previously encountered by Ofelia in the woods) alights in the foreground. The bug takes wing and the camera soars to keep up with it, past the moon and onto the stone sill of the room where Ofelia and her mother lie in bed.

 

This astounding and fluid composite shot serves as a microcosm of the whole movie: a graceful, complex but seamless, seemingly inexorable movement that weaves in and out of fantasy and reality so that each becomes an extension of the other. Whole worlds open before our eyes and then fold back upon themselves; dimensions of time and space are creased into shape as if the movie was an elaborate origami creation.

 

Meanwhile, bugs and monsters (lethal and benign) buzz, squirm and shuffle through the forest of Ofelia's imagination. Pan, a creature with the head of a goat and the body of a contorted mammalian tree trunk, believes that Ofelia herself is (surprise!) the reincarnation of the dead princess, and gives her a series of tasks to prove she is indeed the lost royal.

 

Ofelia's challenges do not arise like arbitrary plot obstacles; they are organic to her (and the movie's) development. The girl learns not only to follow instructions, and that there are heavy prices to pay for failing to abide by them, but also to trust her own instincts about right and wrong. In order to find her true self, she must also find the strength to break the rules imposed by authority.

 

An individual conscience: What could be a more powerful anti-fascist weapon than that?"

- Jim Emerson, Roger Ebert

 

 

From the Public

 

"My emotions were clashing with each other at the ending, and I had no idea how to react until spurts of tears came out of my eyes. It’s a testament to how beautiful Pan’s Labyrinth‘s magic is and how unique this film is compared to... really anything else.

 

I started this last night unsure if I was awake enough to watch a movie, and sure enough, I was way too tired. However, I was shocked that I was already 50 minutes into the film when I stopped. This FLIES by. Every frame is so rich and full of detail that I never wanted it to end! The line between reality and fantasy combines together perfectly. I really loved this movie!" - @WrathOfHan

 

 

Factoids

 

Previous Year's Rankings

2012 - #63, 2013 - #50, 2014 - #79, 2016 - Unranked, 2018 - #45, 2020 - #44, 2022 – #60

 

Director Count

C. Nolan (5), S. Spielberg (4), J. Cameron (3), A. Hitchcock (3), A. Kurosawa (3), D. Lynch (3), B. Bird (2), H. Miyazaki (2), S. Kubrick (2), J. Lasseter (2), S. Lee (2), S. Leone (2), R. Linklater (2), M. Scorsese (2), Q. Tarantino (2), R. Scott (2), R. Allers (1), R. Altman (1), P.T. Anderson (1), F. Capra (1), J. Carpenter (1), J. Coen (1), F.F. Coppola (1), M. Curtiz (1), F. Darabont (1), J. Demme (1), J. Demy (1), P. Docter (1), S. Donen (1), C.T. Dreyer (1), D. Fincher (1), Victor Fleming (1), M. Forman (1), W. Friedkin (1), T. Gilliam (1), P. Jackson (1), R. Johnson (1), T. Jones (1), B. Joon-Ho (1), W. Kar-Wai (1), G. Kelly (1), M. Kobayashi (1), M. Mann (1), G. Miller (1), K. Lund (1), L. McCarey (1), F. Meirelles (1), R. Minkoff (1), A. Molina (1), J. Peele (1), B. Persichetti (1), S. Raimi (1), P. Ramsey (1), R. Rothman (1), A. Russo (1), J. Russo (1), M.N. Shyamalan (1), A. Stanton (1), V.D. Sica (1), G. D. Torro (1), G. Trousdale (1), L. Unkrich (1), La. Wachowski (1), Li. Wachowski (1), P. Weir (1), O. Welles (1), B. Wilder (1), K. Wise (1)

 

Decade Count

1990s (18), 2000s (17), 2010s (12), 1980s (9), 1950s (7), 1960s (6), 1970s (6), 1940s (4), 1930s (2), 1920s (1), 2020s (1)

 

International Film Count

Japan (5), France (3), Italy (3), United Kingdom (2), Australia (1), Brazil (1), Hong Kong (1), Mexico (1), Spain (1), South Korea (1)

 

Franchise Count

Pixar (7), Nolanite Cinematic Universe (4), Alien (2), Before (2), WDAS (2), Spider-Man (2), Toy Story (2), Avatar (1), Batman (1), Exorcist (1), Fargo (1), Gladiator (1), The Godfather (1), Hannibal Lecter (1), Hawkguy Cinematic Universe (1), Jurassic Park (1), Mad Max: Fury Road (1), Man With No Name (1), The Matrix (1), Middle Earth (1), Monty Python (1), Overlook Hotel (1), Oz (1), Star Wars (1), Terminator (1), The Thing (1)

 

Genre Count

Drama (20), Comedy (14), Historical Fiction (14), Sci-Fi (14), Animation (12), Epic (12), Fantasy (11), Action (10), Horror (10), Adventure (8), Black Comedy (7), Crime (7), Musical (6), Thriller (6), Coming of Age (5), Mystery (5), Romance (5), Superhero (5), Comic Book (4), Monster (4), Noir (4), Christmas/Holiday (3), Jidaigeki (3), Post-Apocalyptic (3), Religious (3), Satire (3), Tragedy (3), War (3), Western (3), Anime (2), Prison Break/Heist (2), Spaghetti Western (2), Alternative History (1), Neorealism (1), Surrealism (1)

 

 

A Recipe

Rabbit Stew

 

Ingredients

1 rabbit (1.3 kg - 1.8kg / 3-4 pounds)

6 juniper berries

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tbsp olive oil (for seasoning)

4 cloves of garlic

4 tbsp all-purpose flour (for coating)

4 tbsp olive oil (for cooking)

360 ml (1 1/2 cup) white wine (Chardonnay)

2 celery stalks

4 carrots

2 onions

2 tbsp butter

1 tsp tomato paste

1 tbsp all-purpose flour

1 tbsp dried diced mushrooms (porcini)

10 olives

herbs: 1 sprig thyme, 1 sage leaf, 2 springs parsley, 1 bay leaf

1 liter (4 cups) Vegetable Broth

6 prunes

1 tbsp diced fresh parsley (to serve)

1 tbsp capers

 

Instructions: https://jernejkitchen.com/recipes/rabbit-stew

 

 

 

[The Panda]

Number 17

 

 

"Fool of a Took!"

 

Synopsis

 

"As armies mass for a final battle that will decide the fate of the world--and powerful, ancient forces of Light and Dark compete to determine the outcome--one member of the Fellowship of the Ring is revealed as the noble heir to the throne of the Kings of Men. Yet, the sole hope for triumph over evil lies with a brave hobbit, Frodo, who, accompanied by his loyal friend Sam and the hideous, wretched Gollum, ventures deep into the very dark heart of Mordor on his seemingly impossible quest to destroy the Ring of Power."

- The Movie Database

 

 

From the Scholar

 

"For answer Gandalf cried aloud to his horse. ‘On, Shadowfax! We must hasten. Time is short. See! The beacons of Gondor are alight, calling for aid. War is kindled. See, there is the fire on Amon Dıˆn, and flame on Eilenach; and there they go speeding west: Nardol, Erelas, Min-Rimmon, Calenhad, and the Halifirien on the borders of Rohan.’ But Shadowfax paused in his stride, slowing to a walk, and then he lifted up his head and neighed. And out of the darkness the answering neigh of other horses came; and presently thethuddingofhoofswasheard,andthreeriderssweptupand passed like flying ghosts in the moon and vanished into the West. ThenShadowfaxgathered himself together and sprang away, and the night flowed over him like a roaring wind."

- J.R.R. Tolkein, The Return of the King

 

From the Filmmaker

 

 

From the Critic

 

"The meaning of Tolkien's Manichaeism has been much commented on since the trilogy was first published, but given the mood of our own age, there's something not quite palatable about all these intrepid, largely beautiful Europeans boldly fending off the nameless, numberless hordes from the other side of the world, legions of dark-skinned sans-culottes with tribal drums. Hearing Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) giving his rousing God-for-Harry speech before battle, calling the "men of the West" to stand firm, you feel that either this is a very nasty film altogether or that, more likely, Jackson simply isn't interested in the overtones. This atavistic Christians-vs-Moors narrative doesn't belong in the present day, and that's no doubt why so many people are addicted to it: it's so ideologically overstated that it can easily be brushed off as harmlessly quaint escapism.

 

Aside from this, there's plenty to be offended by on an aesthetic level: the film's self-important solemnity, its hyperbolic over-insistence. As the masonry crumbles, the fireballs fly and the swooping aerial shots grow ever more vertiginous, you wonder where - and more pressingly, when - it will all end. It's with the entry of the giant elephants that you know you've reached an outer limit to the possibilities of epic: any film which can stage multiple elephant collisions has simply gone too far.

 

 

Not long ago, it was considered a joke that anyone ever thought it worthwhile to make films as sprawling and overgilded as Cleopatra, say. Such films look like small fry now that CGI has allowed epic cinema to set its sights higher. What's horrifying in Jackson's vision, however, is not just the gargantuan scale of things but the excess of detail. Where even George Lucas is content to make his batallions of stormtroopers pretty much identical, in Jackson's obsessively multiple world, no two Orcs amid an army of some 200,000 seem to look alike. How many Orc stylists were needed to make this possible? How many artists, technicians, gigabytes did it take to create all the equestrian statues, all the carvings on palace doors? It seems to require all the skill and labour of the Renaissance to perfect just one shot.

 

Critiquing such a film is like critiquing a religion: you either believe or you don't. If you believe, you'll never want the rapture to end; if you don't, then too bad - the holy writ was never addressed to you in the first place. But looking at the trilogy objectively, I'd say that its concluding slab is too much of the same, expanded beyond tolerable limits. Amid all the obsessive detail, the relentless multiplicity, there are no empty spaces, no gaps for thought, no real stimulus to the viewer's imagination. The film has no idea when to stop, either, with its multiple codas and final dying fall into beatific cosiness.

 

Overwhelmed, you either yield absolutely or you don't, which seems to me a fair description of totalitarian cinema. Certainly, there's no denying the vision, the integrity and the technical brilliance of the enterprise. But I can't help feeling Jackson's trilogy goes further towards absolute imaginative domination of its audience than cinema ever should. I suspect there will come a saner time in film culture, which will look back on Jackson's achievement as magnificent but futile, perhaps even as a dreadful warning. Meanwhile, some of us pray for a little calm, a little restraint - a little minimalism please in 2004."

- Jonathan Romney, The Independent

 

 

From the Public

 

"ok but the real reason frodo fucks off to valinor is because sam married rosie instead of him and that’s the tea" - ele, letterboxd

 

 

Factoids

 

Previous Year's Rankings

2012 - #9, 2013 - #15, 2014 - #4, 2016 - #8, 2018 - #6, 2020 - #17, 2022 – #3

 

Director Count

C. Nolan (5), S. Spielberg (4), J. Cameron (3), A. Hitchcock (3), A. Kurosawa (3), D. Lynch (3), B. Bird (2), H. Miyazaki (2), P. Jackson (2), S. Kubrick (2), J. Lasseter (2), S. Lee (2), S. Leone (2), R. Linklater (2), M. Scorsese (2), Q. Tarantino (2), R. Scott (2), R. Allers (1), R. Altman (1), P.T. Anderson (1), F. Capra (1), J. Carpenter (1), J. Coen (1), F.F. Coppola (1), M. Curtiz (1), F. Darabont (1), J. Demme (1), J. Demy (1), P. Docter (1), S. Donen (1), C.T. Dreyer (1), D. Fincher (1), Victor Fleming (1), M. Forman (1), W. Friedkin (1), T. Gilliam (1), R. Johnson (1), T. Jones (1), B. Joon-Ho (1), W. Kar-Wai (1), G. Kelly (1), M. Kobayashi (1), M. Mann (1), G. Miller (1), K. Lund (1), L. McCarey (1), F. Meirelles (1), R. Minkoff (1), A. Molina (1), J. Peele (1), B. Persichetti (1), S. Raimi (1), P. Ramsey (1), R. Rothman (1), A. Russo (1), J. Russo (1), M.N. Shyamalan (1), A. Stanton (1), V.D. Sica (1), G. D. Torro (1), G. Trousdale (1), L. Unkrich (1), La. Wachowski (1), Li. Wachowski (1), P. Weir (1), O. Welles (1), B. Wilder (1), K. Wise (1)

 

Decade Count

1990s (18), 2000s (18), 2010s (12), 1980s (9), 1950s (7), 1960s (6), 1970s (6), 1940s (4), 1930s (2), 1920s (1), 2020s (1)

 

International Film Count

Japan (5), France (3), Italy (3), United Kingdom (2), Australia (1), Brazil (1), Hong Kong (1), Mexico (1), Spain (1), South Korea (1)

 

Franchise Count

Pixar (7), Nolanite Cinematic Universe (4), Alien (2), Before (2), Middle Earth (2), WDAS (2), Spider-Man (2), Toy Story (2), Avatar (1), Batman (1), Exorcist (1), Fargo (1), Gladiator (1), The Godfather (1), Hannibal Lecter (1), Hawkguy Cinematic Universe (1), Jurassic Park (1), Mad Max: Fury Road (1), Man With No Name (1), The Matrix (1), Monty Python (1), Overlook Hotel (1), Oz (1), Star Wars (1), Terminator (1), The Thing (1)

 

Genre Count

Drama (20), Comedy (14), Historical Fiction (14), Sci-Fi (14), Epic (13), Animation (12), Fantasy (12), Horror (11), Action (10), Adventure (9), Black Comedy (7), Crime (7), Musical (6), Thriller (6), Coming of Age (5), Mystery (5), Romance (5), Superhero (5), Comic Book (4), Monster (4), Noir (4), Christmas/Holiday (3), Jidaigeki (3), Post-Apocalyptic (3), Religious (3), Satire (3), Tragedy (3), War (3), Western (3), Anime (2), Prison Break/Heist (2), Spaghetti Western (2), Alternative History (1), Neorealism (1), Surrealism (1)

 

 

A Recipe

 

Bilbo's Tea Cake

 

INGREDIENTS
zest of one lemon (or orange if you prefer) - I used lemon
3/4 c. butter
1 c. sugar
4 eggs
2 1/4 c. flour (any soft flour will do) I used all-purpose
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 c. dried cranberries or currents - I used cranberries
juice of one lemon (orange) - I used lemon

 

Instructions on: https://abbiesadventurediaries.blogspot.com/2017/04/bilbos-tea-cake.html

 

 

 

[The Panda]

Number 16

 

 

"That's the way it crumbles... cookie-wise."

 

Synopsis

 

"Bud Baxter is a minor clerk in a huge New York insurance company, until he discovers a quick way to climb the corporate ladder. He lends out his apartment to the executives as a place to take their mistresses. Although he often has to deal with the aftermath of their visits, one night he's left with a major problem to solve." - The Movie Database

 

 

From the Scholar

 

"People often ask me if I have any regrets over my rankings of directors in The American Cinema. Actually, there have been shifts and slides, rises and falls, all along the line. Film history is still in the process of revision, and some of our earliest masters are still alive. (Où êtes-vous, Abel Gance?) I am still decades away from completing my basic research. The American Cinema was a very tentative probe designed mainly to establish the existence of a subject worthy of study. The rest is refinement and elaboration.

 

To begin answering the original question, however, I must concede at this time that I seem to have grossly underrated Billy Wilder, perhaps more than any other American director. His twilight resurgence in the Seventies with such mellow masterpieces as the PRIVATE LIFE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, AVANTI!, and even the very flawed the front page made me rethink Wilder somewhat, but, mostly, I have been motivated by rueful memories of how people have always managed to talk me out of my instinctive enthusiasm for his films. Whereas the moviegoer in me traipsed back again and again to see THE MAJOR AND THE MINOR, DOUBLE INDEMNITY, THE LOST WEEKEND, SUNSET BOULEVARD, STALAG 17, LOVE IN THE AFTERNOON, SOME LIKE IT HOT, AND THE APARTMENT, the film critic in me was always heard clucking that Wilder was too clever and cynical for his own and everyone else's good. Somehow his clinkers always did double duty to discredit his classics. With other directors, the classics were attributed to them, and the clinkers to the "system." But Wilder was considered the system personified with all its serpentine wiles and crass commercialism."

- Sarris, Andrew. "Billy Wilder: Closet Romanticist." Film Comment 12, no. 4 (1976): 7.

 

From the Filmmaker

 

 

From the Critic

 

"Billy Wilder couldn’t have made this film early in his writing or directing career. A lot of this is because of the Production Code’s strict rules on marriage and adultery. By the time that 1960 came around, the Hayes Code was not as strong as it used to be. To put it simply, sex sold and everyone knew it. Anyway, Wilder was a brilliant filmmaker and knew exactly how he wanted a shot and would break would if he wanted a certain reaction from talent on screen. There was no telling actors what he was looking for in their emotional reaction in a shot. Think about what it says when Billy Wilder is one of a few people to take home three Oscars in one night (Best Picture, Director, and Story and Screenplay – Written Directly for the Screen aka Original Screenplay).

 

Watching the film again for the first time since January 2009, the Oscar-winning production design is really impressive. Take a look at the insurance corporation. There’s a matte background painting at the back of the set but it’s an otherwise massive set that looks this way because of the forced perspective. I credit art director Alexandre Trauner for making sure taller people are up front and smaller people are sitting in the back.

 

 

While Chicago audiences have two opportunities to watch the film over New Year’s weekend at the Music Box Theatre, the picture has never looked better than on the Kino Lorber 4K UHD release. In addition to the remastered picture, the film is presented with a 5.1 Surround & Original 2.0 Mono soundtrack. A pair of legacy documentary featurettes carry over from previous releases along with Bruce Block’s audio commentary. The Arrow Academy Blu-ray includes several more bonus features. If you’re that type of person, it’s best to hold onto both copies.

 

The Apartment is an all-around masterclass in cinema."

- Danielle Solzman, Solzy at the Movies

 

From the Public

 

"I'd normally nod my head in agreement at the "you couldn't make this movie nowadays" statement but to be honest I'm kinda glad something like The Apartment wasn't released this year. The "C.C. Baxter is a simp!!!" discourse would be legendarily insufferable. God, what an awful time for cinema. Good film, though." - @Alpha

 

 

Factoids

 

Previous Year's Rankings

2012 - Unranked, 2013 - Unranked, 2014 - Unranked, 2016 - Unranked, 2018 - Unranked, 2020 - #78, 2022 – #23

 

Director Count

C. Nolan (5), S. Spielberg (4), J. Cameron (3), A. Hitchcock (3), A. Kurosawa (3), D. Lynch (3), B. Bird (2), H. Miyazaki (2), P. Jackson (2), S. Kubrick (2), J. Lasseter (2), S. Lee (2), S. Leone (2), R. Linklater (2), M. Scorsese (2), Q. Tarantino (2), R. Scott (2), B. Wilder (2), R. Allers (1), R. Altman (1), P.T. Anderson (1), F. Capra (1), J. Carpenter (1), J. Coen (1), F.F. Coppola (1), M. Curtiz (1), F. Darabont (1), J. Demme (1), J. Demy (1), P. Docter (1), S. Donen (1), C.T. Dreyer (1), D. Fincher (1), Victor Fleming (1), M. Forman (1), W. Friedkin (1), T. Gilliam (1), R. Johnson (1), T. Jones (1), B. Joon-Ho (1), W. Kar-Wai (1), G. Kelly (1), M. Kobayashi (1), M. Mann (1), G. Miller (1), K. Lund (1), L. McCarey (1), F. Meirelles (1), R. Minkoff (1), A. Molina (1), J. Peele (1), B. Persichetti (1), S. Raimi (1), P. Ramsey (1), R. Rothman (1), A. Russo (1), J. Russo (1), M.N. Shyamalan (1), A. Stanton (1), V.D. Sica (1), G. D. Torro (1), G. Trousdale (1), L. Unkrich (1), La. Wachowski (1), Li. Wachowski (1), P. Weir (1), O. Welles (1), K. Wise (1)

 

Decade Count

1990s (18), 2000s (18), 2010s (12), 1980s (9), 1950s (7), 1960s (7), 1970s (6), 1940s (4), 1930s (2), 1920s (1), 2020s (1)

 

International Film Count

Japan (5), France (3), Italy (3), United Kingdom (2), Australia (1), Brazil (1), Hong Kong (1), Mexico (1), Spain (1), South Korea (1)

 

Franchise Count

Pixar (7), Nolanite Cinematic Universe (4), Alien (2), Before (2), Middle Earth (2), WDAS (2), Spider-Man (2), Toy Story (2), Avatar (1), Batman (1), Exorcist (1), Fargo (1), Gladiator (1), The Godfather (1), Hannibal Lecter (1), Hawkguy Cinematic Universe (1), Jurassic Park (1), Mad Max: Fury Road (1), Man With No Name (1), The Matrix (1), Monty Python (1), Overlook Hotel (1), Oz (1), Star Wars (1), Terminator (1), The Thing (1)

 

Genre Count

Drama (20), Comedy (15), Historical Fiction (14), Sci-Fi (14), Epic (13), Animation (12), Fantasy (12), Horror (11), Action (10), Adventure (9), Black Comedy (7), Crime (7), Musical (6), Romance (6), Thriller (6), Coming of Age (5), Mystery (5), Superhero (5), Christmas/Holiday (4), Comic Book (4), Monster (4), Noir (4), Jidaigeki (3), Post-Apocalyptic (3), Religious (3), Satire (3), Tragedy (3), War (3), Western (3), Anime (2), Prison Break/Heist (2), Spaghetti Western (2), Alternative History (1), Neorealism (1), Rom-Com (1), Surrealism (1)

 

 

A Recipe

Homemade Pasta

 

Ingredients

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons tipo 00 flour

7 tablespoons durum (semolina) flour

9 egg yolks

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

4 tablespoons water, and more as needed

 

Method

On a clean surface, mix the tipo 00 and durum flours together and make a well in the center. Add egg yolks, oil, and water one at a time, mixing well with your hands. The should come together after a few minutes of mixing. Add more water if needed to combine the dough thoroughly.

On a lightly floured surface (I used durum flour), knead the dough until it is smooth, about 5-6 minutes. When you stretch the dough it should pull back into place.

Flatten the dough into a disk, cover with plastic wrap, and set aside for 30 minutes. 

When you’re ready to make the pasta, cut the dough into quarters. This will be more manageable when rolling it out and cutting it. Roll out each piece until it is thinner. Or, you can make it thicker. This step really depends on your preferences and what type of pasta you’re trying to make.

Cut the pasta into long thin strips or roll it into thick ovals – this is where you can have fun with it. 

Cook the pasta right away in salted boiling water, or dust with flour, cover it, and refrigerate. If you make too much pasta and want to save some, place the pasta in a plastic bag in a single layer and freeze for a month. Whenever you’re ready to use it simply place it in boiling water. 

 

From: https://www.adashofcinema.com/recipes/2016/03/07/eat-watch-homemade-pasta-the-apartment

 

 

 

[The Panda]

 

Number 15

 

 

"That's no moon."

 

Synopsis

 

 

 

 

 

 

From the Scholar

 

 

From the Filmmaker

 

 

 

From the Critic

 

 

 

From the Public

 

"Had an opportunity to watch the original version.  I love any version of this film. But there definitely is a lot more charm with less Jabba." - @DAR

 

 

Factoids

 

Previous Year's Rankings

2012 - #6, 2013 - #4, 2014 - #3, 2016 - #5, 2018 - #7, 2020 - #12, 2022 – #13

 

Director Count

C. Nolan (5), S. Spielberg (4), J. Cameron (3), A. Hitchcock (3), A. Kurosawa (3), D. Lynch (3), B. Bird (2), H. Miyazaki (2), P. Jackson (2), S. Kubrick (2), J. Lasseter (2), S. Lee (2), S. Leone (2), R. Linklater (2), M. Scorsese (2), Q. Tarantino (2), R. Scott (2), B. Wilder (2), R. Allers (1), R. Altman (1), P.T. Anderson (1), F. Capra (1), J. Carpenter (1), J. Coen (1), F.F. Coppola (1), M. Curtiz (1), F. Darabont (1), J. Demme (1), J. Demy (1), P. Docter (1), S. Donen (1), C.T. Dreyer (1), D. Fincher (1), Victor Fleming (1), M. Forman (1), W. Friedkin (1), T. Gilliam (1), R. Johnson (1), T. Jones (1), B. Joon-Ho (1), W. Kar-Wai (1), G. Kelly (1), M. Kobayashi (1), M. Mann (1), G. Miller (1), G. Lucas (1), K. Lund (1), L. McCarey (1), F. Meirelles (1), R. Minkoff (1), A. Molina (1), J. Peele (1), B. Persichetti (1), S. Raimi (1), P. Ramsey (1), R. Rothman (1), A. Russo (1), J. Russo (1), M.N. Shyamalan (1), A. Stanton (1), V.D. Sica (1), G. D. Torro (1), G. Trousdale (1), L. Unkrich (1), La. Wachowski (1), Li. Wachowski (1), P. Weir (1), O. Welles (1), K. Wise (1)

 

Decade Count

1990s (18), 2000s (18), 2010s (12), 1980s (9), 1950s (7), 1960s (7), 1970s (7), 1940s (4), 1930s (2), 1920s (1), 2020s (1)

 

International Film Count

Japan (5), France (3), Italy (3), United Kingdom (2), Australia (1), Brazil (1), Hong Kong (1), Mexico (1), Spain (1), South Korea (1)

 

 

Franchise Count

Pixar (7), Nolanite Cinematic Universe (4), Alien (2), Before (2), Middle Earth (2), WDAS (2), Spider-Man (2), Star Wars (2), Toy Story (2), Avatar (1), Batman (1), Exorcist (1), Fargo (1), Gladiator (1), The Godfather (1), Hannibal Lecter (1), Hawkguy Cinematic Universe (1), Jurassic Park (1), Mad Max: Fury Road (1), Man With No Name (1), The Matrix (1), Monty Python (1), Overlook Hotel (1), Oz (1), Terminator (1), The Thing (1)

 

Genre Count

Drama (20), Comedy (15), Historical Fiction (14), Sci-Fi (14), Epic (13), Fantasy (13), Animation (12), Horror (11), Action (10), Adventure (10), Black Comedy (7), Crime (7), Musical (6), Romance (6), Thriller (6), Coming of Age (5), Mystery (5), Superhero (5), Christmas/Holiday (4), Comic Book (4), Monster (4), Noir (4), Jidaigeki (3), Post-Apocalyptic (3), Religious (3), Satire (3), Tragedy (3), War (3), Western (3), Anime (2), Prison Break/Heist (2), Spaghetti Western (2), Alternative History (1), Neorealism (1), Rom-Com (1), Surrealism (1)

 

 

A Recipe

The Yub Nub (DisneyWorld, Galaxy's Edge Copycat)

 

Ingredients

1 1/2 oz Sailor Jerry's Spiced Rum
1 oz Reàl Passion Fruit Syrup
3/4 oz Lime Juice
1/2 oz Plantation Stiggins Fancy Pineapple Rum (they use Malibu in the park)
A few dashes of Angostura Bitters

Instructions

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice.
Shake.
Strain into a tiki mug filled with fresh crushed ice.
Serve.

 

 

 

[The Panda]

 

106.    Akira (dir. Katsuhiro Otomo, 1988)
107.    Bambi (dir. David D. Hand et al., 1942)
108.    Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (dir. Peter Weir, 2003)
109.    Forrest Gump (dir. Robert Zemeckis, 1994)
110.    North by Northwest (dir. Alfred Hitchcock, 1959)
 

[Dementeleus]

106, 108, 110… so close 😮‍💨

[Rorschach]

1 hour ago, The Panda said:

107.    Bambi (dir. David D. Hand et al., 1942)

[4815162342]

8 hours ago, Dementeleus said:

108, 110… so close 😮‍💨

 

a big shame

[Jake Gittes]

8 hours ago, The Panda said:

Number 16

 

 

"That's the way it crumbles... cookie-wise."

 

Synopsis

 

"Bud Baxter is a minor clerk in a huge New York insurance company, until he discovers a quick way to climb the corporate ladder. He lends out his apartment to the executives as a place to take their mistresses. Although he often has to deal with the aftermath of their visits, one night he's left with a major problem to solve." - The Movie Database

 

 

From the Scholar

 

"People often ask me if I have any regrets over my rankings of directors in The American Cinema. Actually, there have been shifts and slides, rises and falls, all along the line. Film history is still in the process of revision, and some of our earliest masters are still alive. (Où êtes-vous, Abel Gance?) I am still decades away from completing my basic research. The American Cinema was a very tentative probe designed mainly to establish the existence of a subject worthy of study. The rest is refinement and elaboration.

 

To begin answering the original question, however, I must concede at this time that I seem to have grossly underrated Billy Wilder, perhaps more than any other American director. His twilight resurgence in the Seventies with such mellow masterpieces as the PRIVATE LIFE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, AVANTI!, and even the very flawed the front page made me rethink Wilder somewhat, but, mostly, I have been motivated by rueful memories of how people have always managed to talk me out of my instinctive enthusiasm for his films. Whereas the moviegoer in me traipsed back again and again to see THE MAJOR AND THE MINOR, DOUBLE INDEMNITY, THE LOST WEEKEND, SUNSET BOULEVARD, STALAG 17, LOVE IN THE AFTERNOON, SOME LIKE IT HOT, AND THE APARTMENT, the film critic in me was always heard clucking that Wilder was too clever and cynical for his own and everyone else's good. Somehow his clinkers always did double duty to discredit his classics. With other directors, the classics were attributed to them, and the clinkers to the "system." But Wilder was considered the system personified with all its serpentine wiles and crass commercialism."

- Sarris, Andrew. "Billy Wilder: Closet Romanticist." Film Comment 12, no. 4 (1976): 7.

 

From the Filmmaker

 

 

From the Critic

 

"Billy Wilder couldn’t have made this film early in his writing or directing career. A lot of this is because of the Production Code’s strict rules on marriage and adultery. By the time that 1960 came around, the Hayes Code was not as strong as it used to be. To put it simply, sex sold and everyone knew it. Anyway, Wilder was a brilliant filmmaker and knew exactly how he wanted a shot and would break would if he wanted a certain reaction from talent on screen. There was no telling actors what he was looking for in their emotional reaction in a shot. Think about what it says when Billy Wilder is one of a few people to take home three Oscars in one night (Best Picture, Director, and Story and Screenplay – Written Directly for the Screen aka Original Screenplay).

 

Watching the film again for the first time since January 2009, the Oscar-winning production design is really impressive. Take a look at the insurance corporation. There’s a matte background painting at the back of the set but it’s an otherwise massive set that looks this way because of the forced perspective. I credit art director Alexandre Trauner for making sure taller people are up front and smaller people are sitting in the back.

 

 

While Chicago audiences have two opportunities to watch the film over New Year’s weekend at the Music Box Theatre, the picture has never looked better than on the Kino Lorber 4K UHD release. In addition to the remastered picture, the film is presented with a 5.1 Surround & Original 2.0 Mono soundtrack. A pair of legacy documentary featurettes carry over from previous releases along with Bruce Block’s audio commentary. The Arrow Academy Blu-ray includes several more bonus features. If you’re that type of person, it’s best to hold onto both copies.

 

The Apartment is an all-around masterclass in cinema."

- Danielle Solzman, Solzy at the Movies

 

From the Public

 

"I'd normally nod my head in agreement at the "you couldn't make this movie nowadays" statement but to be honest I'm kinda glad something like The Apartment wasn't released this year. The "C.C. Baxter is a simp!!!" discourse would be legendarily insufferable. God, what an awful time for cinema. Good film, though." - @Alpha

 

 

Factoids

 

Previous Year's Rankings

2012 - Unranked, 2013 - Unranked, 2014 - Unranked, 2016 - Unranked, 2018 - Unranked, 2020 - #78, 2022 – #23

 

Director Count

C. Nolan (5), S. Spielberg (4), J. Cameron (3), A. Hitchcock (3), A. Kurosawa (3), D. Lynch (3), B. Bird (2), H. Miyazaki (2), P. Jackson (2), S. Kubrick (2), J. Lasseter (2), S. Lee (2), S. Leone (2), R. Linklater (2), M. Scorsese (2), Q. Tarantino (2), R. Scott (2), B. Wilder (2), R. Allers (1), R. Altman (1), P.T. Anderson (1), F. Capra (1), J. Carpenter (1), J. Coen (1), F.F. Coppola (1), M. Curtiz (1), F. Darabont (1), J. Demme (1), J. Demy (1), P. Docter (1), S. Donen (1), C.T. Dreyer (1), D. Fincher (1), Victor Fleming (1), M. Forman (1), W. Friedkin (1), T. Gilliam (1), R. Johnson (1), T. Jones (1), B. Joon-Ho (1), W. Kar-Wai (1), G. Kelly (1), M. Kobayashi (1), M. Mann (1), G. Miller (1), K. Lund (1), L. McCarey (1), F. Meirelles (1), R. Minkoff (1), A. Molina (1), J. Peele (1), B. Persichetti (1), S. Raimi (1), P. Ramsey (1), R. Rothman (1), A. Russo (1), J. Russo (1), M.N. Shyamalan (1), A. Stanton (1), V.D. Sica (1), G. D. Torro (1), G. Trousdale (1), L. Unkrich (1), La. Wachowski (1), Li. Wachowski (1), P. Weir (1), O. Welles (1), K. Wise (1)

 

Decade Count

1990s (18), 2000s (18), 2010s (12), 1980s (9), 1950s (7), 1960s (7), 1970s (6), 1940s (4), 1930s (2), 1920s (1), 2020s (1)

 

International Film Count

Japan (5), France (3), Italy (3), United Kingdom (2), Australia (1), Brazil (1), Hong Kong (1), Mexico (1), Spain (1), South Korea (1)

 

Franchise Count

Pixar (7), Nolanite Cinematic Universe (4), Alien (2), Before (2), Middle Earth (2), WDAS (2), Spider-Man (2), Toy Story (2), Avatar (1), Batman (1), Exorcist (1), Fargo (1), Gladiator (1), The Godfather (1), Hannibal Lecter (1), Hawkguy Cinematic Universe (1), Jurassic Park (1), Mad Max: Fury Road (1), Man With No Name (1), The Matrix (1), Monty Python (1), Overlook Hotel (1), Oz (1), Star Wars (1), Terminator (1), The Thing (1)

 

Genre Count

Drama (20), Comedy (15), Historical Fiction (14), Sci-Fi (14), Epic (13), Animation (12), Fantasy (12), Horror (11), Action (10), Adventure (9), Black Comedy (7), Crime (7), Musical (6), Romance (6), Thriller (6), Coming of Age (5), Mystery (5), Superhero (5), Christmas/Holiday (4), Comic Book (4), Monster (4), Noir (4), Jidaigeki (3), Post-Apocalyptic (3), Religious (3), Satire (3), Tragedy (3), War (3), Western (3), Anime (2), Prison Break/Heist (2), Spaghetti Western (2), Alternative History (1), Neorealism (1), Rom-Com (1), Surrealism (1)

 

 

A Recipe

Homemade Pasta

 

Ingredients

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons tipo 00 flour

7 tablespoons durum (semolina) flour

9 egg yolks

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

4 tablespoons water, and more as needed

 

Method

On a clean surface, mix the tipo 00 and durum flours together and make a well in the center. Add egg yolks, oil, and water one at a time, mixing well with your hands. The should come together after a few minutes of mixing. Add more water if needed to combine the dough thoroughly.

On a lightly floured surface (I used durum flour), knead the dough until it is smooth, about 5-6 minutes. When you stretch the dough it should pull back into place.

Flatten the dough into a disk, cover with plastic wrap, and set aside for 30 minutes. 

When you’re ready to make the pasta, cut the dough into quarters. This will be more manageable when rolling it out and cutting it. Roll out each piece until it is thinner. Or, you can make it thicker. This step really depends on your preferences and what type of pasta you’re trying to make.

Cut the pasta into long thin strips or roll it into thick ovals – this is where you can have fun with it. 

Cook the pasta right away in salted boiling water, or dust with flour, cover it, and refrigerate. If you make too much pasta and want to save some, place the pasta in a plastic bag in a single layer and freeze for a month. Whenever you’re ready to use it simply place it in boiling water. 

 

From: https://www.adashofcinema.com/recipes/2016/03/07/eat-watch-homemade-pasta-the-apartment

 

 

 

 

Hell yeah. I wondered at some point if this landed at #101 or something, but confirmed that it got enough points to make it just from the public lists alone, and after that I was giddy watching it *not* show up for so long. 

[TalismanRing]

Quote

 

To begin answering the original question, however, I must concede at this time that I seem to have grossly underrated Billy Wilder, perhaps more than any other American director. His twilight resurgence in the Seventies with such mellow masterpieces as the PRIVATE LIFE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, AVANTI!, and even the very flawed the FRONT PAGE made me rethink Wilder somewhat, but, mostly, I have been motivated by rueful memories of how people have always managed to talk me out of my instinctive enthusiasm for his films. Whereas the moviegoer in me traipsed back again and again to see THE MAJOR AND THE MINOR, DOUBLE INDEMNITY, THE LOST WEEKEND, SUNSET BOULEVARD, STALAG 17, LOVE IN THE AFTERNOON, SOME LIKE IT HOT, AND THE APARTMENT, the film critic in me was always heard clucking that Wilder was too clever and cynical for his own and everyone else's good. Somehow his clinkers always did double duty to discredit his classics. With other directors, the classics were attributed to them, and the clinkers to the "system." But Wilder was considered the system personified with all its serpentine wiles and crass commercialism."

- Sarris, Andrew. "Billy Wilder: Closet Romanticist." Film Comment 12, no. 4 (1976): 7.

 

 

That list doesn't even include Ace In The Hole,  One Two Three, Sabrina, or Witness for the Prosecution.

 

Imagine Andrew Sarris allowing other critics to talk him out of accepting that Billy Wilder was directing & writing entertaining masterpieces left and right for decades - because he was too clever and cynical.  Bizarre. 

 

Edited August 14 by TalismanRing

[Flip]

14 hours ago, The Panda said:

Number 16

 

 

"That's the way it crumbles... cookie-wise."

 

Synopsis

 

"Bud Baxter is a minor clerk in a huge New York insurance company, until he discovers a quick way to climb the corporate ladder. He lends out his apartment to the executives as a place to take their mistresses. Although he often has to deal with the aftermath of their visits, one night he's left with a major problem to solve." - The Movie Database

 

 

From the Scholar

 

"People often ask me if I have any regrets over my rankings of directors in The American Cinema. Actually, there have been shifts and slides, rises and falls, all along the line. Film history is still in the process of revision, and some of our earliest masters are still alive. (Où êtes-vous, Abel Gance?) I am still decades away from completing my basic research. The American Cinema was a very tentative probe designed mainly to establish the existence of a subject worthy of study. The rest is refinement and elaboration.

 

To begin answering the original question, however, I must concede at this time that I seem to have grossly underrated Billy Wilder, perhaps more than any other American director. His twilight resurgence in the Seventies with such mellow masterpieces as the PRIVATE LIFE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, AVANTI!, and even the very flawed the front page made me rethink Wilder somewhat, but, mostly, I have been motivated by rueful memories of how people have always managed to talk me out of my instinctive enthusiasm for his films. Whereas the moviegoer in me traipsed back again and again to see THE MAJOR AND THE MINOR, DOUBLE INDEMNITY, THE LOST WEEKEND, SUNSET BOULEVARD, STALAG 17, LOVE IN THE AFTERNOON, SOME LIKE IT HOT, AND THE APARTMENT, the film critic in me was always heard clucking that Wilder was too clever and cynical for his own and everyone else's good. Somehow his clinkers always did double duty to discredit his classics. With other directors, the classics were attributed to them, and the clinkers to the "system." But Wilder was considered the system personified with all its serpentine wiles and crass commercialism."

- Sarris, Andrew. "Billy Wilder: Closet Romanticist." Film Comment 12, no. 4 (1976): 7.

 

From the Filmmaker

 

 

From the Critic

 

"Billy Wilder couldn’t have made this film early in his writing or directing career. A lot of this is because of the Production Code’s strict rules on marriage and adultery. By the time that 1960 came around, the Hayes Code was not as strong as it used to be. To put it simply, sex sold and everyone knew it. Anyway, Wilder was a brilliant filmmaker and knew exactly how he wanted a shot and would break would if he wanted a certain reaction from talent on screen. There was no telling actors what he was looking for in their emotional reaction in a shot. Think about what it says when Billy Wilder is one of a few people to take home three Oscars in one night (Best Picture, Director, and Story and Screenplay – Written Directly for the Screen aka Original Screenplay).

 

Watching the film again for the first time since January 2009, the Oscar-winning production design is really impressive. Take a look at the insurance corporation. There’s a matte background painting at the back of the set but it’s an otherwise massive set that looks this way because of the forced perspective. I credit art director Alexandre Trauner for making sure taller people are up front and smaller people are sitting in the back.

 

 

While Chicago audiences have two opportunities to watch the film over New Year’s weekend at the Music Box Theatre, the picture has never looked better than on the Kino Lorber 4K UHD release. In addition to the remastered picture, the film is presented with a 5.1 Surround & Original 2.0 Mono soundtrack. A pair of legacy documentary featurettes carry over from previous releases along with Bruce Block’s audio commentary. The Arrow Academy Blu-ray includes several more bonus features. If you’re that type of person, it’s best to hold onto both copies.

 

The Apartment is an all-around masterclass in cinema."

- Danielle Solzman, Solzy at the Movies

 

From the Public

 

"I'd normally nod my head in agreement at the "you couldn't make this movie nowadays" statement but to be honest I'm kinda glad something like The Apartment wasn't released this year. The "C.C. Baxter is a simp!!!" discourse would be legendarily insufferable. God, what an awful time for cinema. Good film, though." - @Alpha

 

 

Factoids

 

Previous Year's Rankings

2012 - Unranked, 2013 - Unranked, 2014 - Unranked, 2016 - Unranked, 2018 - Unranked, 2020 - #78, 2022 – #23

 

Director Count

C. Nolan (5), S. Spielberg (4), J. Cameron (3), A. Hitchcock (3), A. Kurosawa (3), D. Lynch (3), B. Bird (2), H. Miyazaki (2), P. Jackson (2), S. Kubrick (2), J. Lasseter (2), S. Lee (2), S. Leone (2), R. Linklater (2), M. Scorsese (2), Q. Tarantino (2), R. Scott (2), B. Wilder (2), R. Allers (1), R. Altman (1), P.T. Anderson (1), F. Capra (1), J. Carpenter (1), J. Coen (1), F.F. Coppola (1), M. Curtiz (1), F. Darabont (1), J. Demme (1), J. Demy (1), P. Docter (1), S. Donen (1), C.T. Dreyer (1), D. Fincher (1), Victor Fleming (1), M. Forman (1), W. Friedkin (1), T. Gilliam (1), R. Johnson (1), T. Jones (1), B. Joon-Ho (1), W. Kar-Wai (1), G. Kelly (1), M. Kobayashi (1), M. Mann (1), G. Miller (1), K. Lund (1), L. McCarey (1), F. Meirelles (1), R. Minkoff (1), A. Molina (1), J. Peele (1), B. Persichetti (1), S. Raimi (1), P. Ramsey (1), R. Rothman (1), A. Russo (1), J. Russo (1), M.N. Shyamalan (1), A. Stanton (1), V.D. Sica (1), G. D. Torro (1), G. Trousdale (1), L. Unkrich (1), La. Wachowski (1), Li. Wachowski (1), P. Weir (1), O. Welles (1), K. Wise (1)

 

Decade Count

1990s (18), 2000s (18), 2010s (12), 1980s (9), 1950s (7), 1960s (7), 1970s (6), 1940s (4), 1930s (2), 1920s (1), 2020s (1)

 

International Film Count

Japan (5), France (3), Italy (3), United Kingdom (2), Australia (1), Brazil (1), Hong Kong (1), Mexico (1), Spain (1), South Korea (1)

 

Franchise Count

Pixar (7), Nolanite Cinematic Universe (4), Alien (2), Before (2), Middle Earth (2), WDAS (2), Spider-Man (2), Toy Story (2), Avatar (1), Batman (1), Exorcist (1), Fargo (1), Gladiator (1), The Godfather (1), Hannibal Lecter (1), Hawkguy Cinematic Universe (1), Jurassic Park (1), Mad Max: Fury Road (1), Man With No Name (1), The Matrix (1), Monty Python (1), Overlook Hotel (1), Oz (1), Star Wars (1), Terminator (1), The Thing (1)

 

Genre Count

Drama (20), Comedy (15), Historical Fiction (14), Sci-Fi (14), Epic (13), Animation (12), Fantasy (12), Horror (11), Action (10), Adventure (9), Black Comedy (7), Crime (7), Musical (6), Romance (6), Thriller (6), Coming of Age (5), Mystery (5), Superhero (5), Christmas/Holiday (4), Comic Book (4), Monster (4), Noir (4), Jidaigeki (3), Post-Apocalyptic (3), Religious (3), Satire (3), Tragedy (3), War (3), Western (3), Anime (2), Prison Break/Heist (2), Spaghetti Western (2), Alternative History (1), Neorealism (1), Rom-Com (1), Surrealism (1)

 

 

A Recipe

Homemade Pasta

 

Ingredients

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons tipo 00 flour

7 tablespoons durum (semolina) flour

9 egg yolks

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

4 tablespoons water, and more as needed

 

Method

On a clean surface, mix the tipo 00 and durum flours together and make a well in the center. Add egg yolks, oil, and water one at a time, mixing well with your hands. The should come together after a few minutes of mixing. Add more water if needed to combine the dough thoroughly.

On a lightly floured surface (I used durum flour), knead the dough until it is smooth, about 5-6 minutes. When you stretch the dough it should pull back into place.

Flatten the dough into a disk, cover with plastic wrap, and set aside for 30 minutes. 

When you’re ready to make the pasta, cut the dough into quarters. This will be more manageable when rolling it out and cutting it. Roll out each piece until it is thinner. Or, you can make it thicker. This step really depends on your preferences and what type of pasta you’re trying to make.

Cut the pasta into long thin strips or roll it into thick ovals – this is where you can have fun with it. 

Cook the pasta right away in salted boiling water, or dust with flour, cover it, and refrigerate. If you make too much pasta and want to save some, place the pasta in a plastic bag in a single layer and freeze for a month. Whenever you’re ready to use it simply place it in boiling water. 

 

From: https://www.adashofcinema.com/recipes/2016/03/07/eat-watch-homemade-pasta-the-apartment

 

 

 

A pleasant surprise, thought this would be left off the list

[cannastop]

On 8/13/2024 at 11:05 PM, Dementeleus said:

106, 108, 110… so close 😮‍💨

mourning the loss of Akira on the top 100. 😭

[The Panda]

Number 14

 

 

"Jesus, George, it was a wonder I was even born."

 

 

Synopsis

 

"Eighties teenager Marty McFly is accidentally sent back in time to 1955, inadvertently disrupting his parents' first meeting and attracting his mother's romantic interest. Marty must repair the damage to history by rekindling his parents' romance and - with the help of his eccentric inventor friend Doc Brown - return to 1985."

 

From the Scholar

 

"Since Beck, Katz, and Tucker (1998), the standard method for modeling time dependence in binary data has been to incorporate time dummies or splined time in logistic regressions. Although we agree with the need for modeling time dependence, we demonstrate that time dummies can induce estimation problems due to separation. Splines do not suffer from these problems. However, the complexity of splines has led substantive researchers (1) to use knot values that may be inappropriate for their data and (2) to ignore any substantive discussion concerning temporal dependence. We propose a relatively simple alternative: including t, t2, and t3 in the regression. This cubic polynomial approximation is trivial to implement—and, therefore, interpret—and it avoids problems such as quasi-complete separation. Monte Carlo analysis demonstrates that, for the types of hazards one often sees in substantive research, the polynomial approximation always outperforms time dummies and generally performs as well as splines or even more flexible autosmoothing procedures. Due to its simplicity, this method also accommodates nonproportional hazards in a straightforward way. We reanalyze Crowley and Skocpol (2001) using nonproportional hazards and find new empirical support for the historical-institutionalist perspective."

- Carter, David B., and Curtis S. Signorino. "Back to the future: Modeling time dependence in binary data." Political Analysis 18, no. 3 (2010): 271-292.

 

 

From the Filmmaker

 

 

From the Critic

 

"The jokes have all the dizzying, sometimes perverse edge that is the Zemeckis-Gale trademark, irreverent without being mean-spirited (there are some hilarious Reagan gags), with wordplay that can verge on Dada ("Make like a tree and get out of here," one bully says). In the same way that "Splash" and "The Brother From Another Planet" used aliens to make our way of life seem fresh and new again, "Back to the Future" uses the past -- the kids of the '50s are its aliens, puzzled by '80s culture. And as a director, Zemeckis brings energy to every scene -- the way he brings the world right up against short, distorting lenses makes the screen seem like a windshield, and he has a flair for big-canvas cliffhangers.

 

Most important, Zemeckis and Gale have given the movie a core of feeling that makes real claims on us. For all its comedy, "Back to the Future" is about a kid coming to terms with his parents' inadequacies, a moment familiar to everyone, and the fulcrum in growing up. Zemeckis and Gale ground the story in that emotion -- the laughs are the movie's high points, but the poignance is what keep you inside it, as Marty struggles with his father's weakness, and thinks, for the first time, about being a parent himself."

- Paul Attanasio, The Washington Post

 

 

From the Public

 

"This is easily one of the greatest movies of all-time! Not only that, but one of my favorites! Such a great story and it is full of great performances. I think it is one of the few perfect movies!" - @Empire

 

 

Factoids

 

Previous Year's Rankings

2012 - #19, 2013 - #13 , 2014 - #16, 2016 - #19, 2018 - #13, 2020 - #7, 2022 – #21

 

Director Count

C. Nolan (5), S. Spielberg (4), J. Cameron (3), A. Hitchcock (3), A. Kurosawa (3), D. Lynch (3), B. Bird (2), H. Miyazaki (2), P. Jackson (2), S. Kubrick (2), J. Lasseter (2), S. Lee (2), S. Leone (2), R. Linklater (2), M. Scorsese (2), Q. Tarantino (2), R. Scott (2), B. Wilder (2), R. Allers (1), R. Altman (1), P.T. Anderson (1), F. Capra (1), J. Carpenter (1), J. Coen (1), F.F. Coppola (1), M. Curtiz (1), F. Darabont (1), J. Demme (1), J. Demy (1), P. Docter (1), S. Donen (1), C.T. Dreyer (1), D. Fincher (1), Victor Fleming (1), M. Forman (1), W. Friedkin (1), T. Gilliam (1), R. Johnson (1), T. Jones (1), B. Joon-Ho (1), W. Kar-Wai (1), G. Kelly (1), M. Kobayashi (1), M. Mann (1), G. Miller (1), G. Lucas (1), K. Lund (1), L. McCarey (1), F. Meirelles (1), R. Minkoff (1), A. Molina (1), J. Peele (1), B. Persichetti (1), S. Raimi (1), P. Ramsey (1), R. Rothman (1), A. Russo (1), J. Russo (1), M.N. Shyamalan (1), A. Stanton (1), V.D. Sica (1), G. D. Torro (1), G. Trousdale (1), L. Unkrich (1), La. Wachowski (1), Li. Wachowski (1), P. Weir (1), O. Welles (1), K. Wise (1), R. Zemeckis (1)

 

Decade Count

1990s (18), 2000s (18), 2010s (12), 1980s (10), 1950s (7), 1960s (7), 1970s (7), 1940s (4), 1930s (2), 1920s (1), 2020s (1)

 

International Film Count

Japan (5), France (3), Italy (3), United Kingdom (2), Australia (1), Brazil (1), Hong Kong (1), Mexico (1), Spain (1), South Korea (1)

 

Franchise Count

Pixar (7), Nolanite Cinematic Universe (4), Alien (2), Before (2), Middle Earth (2), WDAS (2), Spider-Man (2), Star Wars (2), Toy Story (2), Avatar (1), Back to the Future (1), Batman (1), Exorcist (1), Fargo (1), Gladiator (1), The Godfather (1), Hannibal Lecter (1), Hawkguy Cinematic Universe (1), Jurassic Park (1), Mad Max: Fury Road (1), Man With No Name (1), The Matrix (1), Monty Python (1), Overlook Hotel (1), Oz (1), Terminator (1), The Thing (1)

 

Genre Count

Drama (20), Comedy (16), Sci-Fi (15), Historical Fiction (14), Epic (13), Fantasy (13), Animation (12), Horror (11), Action (10), Adventure (10), Black Comedy (7), Crime (7), Musical (6), Romance (6), Thriller (6), Coming of Age (5), Mystery (5), Superhero (5), Christmas/Holiday (4), Comic Book (4), Monster (4), Noir (4), Jidaigeki (3), Post-Apocalyptic (3), Religious (3), Satire (3), Tragedy (3), War (3), Western (3), Anime (2), Prison Break/Heist (2), Spaghetti Western (2), Alternative History (1), Neorealism (1), Rom-Com (1), Surrealism (1)

 

 

A Recipe

Old Fashioned Chocolate Malt

 

Ingredients

1 pint vanilla ice cream (2 cups) tightly packed
1/2 milk adjust as needed
3 T chocolate syrup
3 T malt powder
Instructions
 
Mix all the ingredients in a blender
If needed, add a little extra milk or ice cream to adjust thickness
Enjoy!

 

From: https://artofnaturalliving.com/old-fashioned-chocolate-malt/

 

 

 

[The Panda]

Number 13

 

 

"No jury can declare a man guilty unless it's sure."

 

Synopsis

 

"12 Angry Men, by Sidney Lumet, may be the most radical courtroom drama in cinema history. A behind-closed-doors look at the American legal system that is as riveting as it is spare, this iconic adaptation of Reginald Rose’s teleplay stars Henry Fonda as the dissenting member on a jury of white men ready to pass judgment on a Puerto Rican teenager charged with murdering his father. The result is a saga of epic proportions that plays out over a tense afternoon in one sweltering room. Lumet’s electrifying snapshot of 1950s America on the verge of change is one of the great feature film debuts." - Criterion Collection

 

 

From the Scholar

 

"From a naturalistic per-spective, it is not difficult to see how one’s opinionsand decisions are colored not only by the informationwith which we are presented but also by the charac-teristics (pleasant or otherwise) of our physical sur-roundings, timing (pressured or relaxed), the se-quence of events (and our engagement in this flow),group dynamics (the quality of relationships), feel-ings (friendly, antagonistic), and influencing tacticsdeployed by others. From an analytical perspective,theories that are dyadic, episodic, and decontextual-ized appear to offer partial accounts of the influenceprocess.With respect to jury behavior, recent research offerssupport for the thesis of 12 Angry Men. Kressel and Kressel (2001) argue that although most court casesappear to be decided on evidence, training canimprove the credibility of witnesses and the effective-ness of lawyers who often test versions of the evidencewith focus groups to establish the best trial approach.Basing his account on participant observation as a juryforeman in a murder trial, Burnett (2001) reveals howthe verdict was influenced by a combination of factors,including a tyrannical judge, mediocre contributionsfrom police and lawyers, the composition and intellec-tual capabilities of the jury, physical isolation, groupdynamics, and a range of intimate and violent emotional displays, in addition to the evidence of the case."

- Buchanan, David, and Andrzej Huczynski. "Images of influence: 12 angry men and thirteen days." Journal of Management Inquiry 13, no. 4 (2004): 312-323.

 

From the Filmmaker

 

 

From the Critic

 

"Strangely enough, the illogical aspect of the plot is embodied in his exclusive discoveries of evidence and improbabilities in the trial itself. Some of the other jurors appear capable of such perception too.A viewer may assume, however that Mr. Rose was interested solely in establishing the characters of his cast, which he has done admirably. Each of his performers has a "fat" part and they are convincingly played.Lee J. Cobb, for example, is excellent as the vengeful self-made man tortured by the memory of a son who broke away from his rule. Ed Begley is properly warped and rabid as the prejudiced garage owner. And, to single out a few others, E. G. Marshall is fine as the unperturbed broker, as are Jack Warden, as the flip sport; George Voskovec, as the watchmaker; Joseph Sweeney, as the observant old man and Robert Webber, as the vacuous advertising type.Messrs, Rose, Lumet, Fonda, et al. have kept the fair sex out of their jury room. Although it may sound ungallant, these "12 Angry Men," are all right without distaff glamour. Their dramas are powerful and provocative enough to keep a viewer spellbound." - A.H. Weiler, The New York Times

 

 

From the Public

 

"A courtroom drama with no lawyers, a case with no trial. With nothing but a single shot of the convict's face. It feels to me like it was not really about the case, about proving or not proving something, about the convict, about the whodunit or even about guilty or innocent. It was about the men - 12 strangers, who don't even know each other's name, come together to decide the death of another stranger." - @Infernus

 

 

Factoids

 

Previous Year's Rankings

2012 - #35, 2013 - #28, 2014 - #8, 2016 - #7, 2018 - #5, 2020 - #14, 2022 – #24

 

Director Count

C. Nolan (5), S. Spielberg (4), J. Cameron (3), A. Hitchcock (3), A. Kurosawa (3), D. Lynch (3), B. Bird (2), H. Miyazaki (2), P. Jackson (2), S. Kubrick (2), J. Lasseter (2), S. Lee (2), S. Leone (2), R. Linklater (2), M. Scorsese (2), Q. Tarantino (2), R. Scott (2), B. Wilder (2), R. Allers (1), R. Altman (1), P.T. Anderson (1), F. Capra (1), J. Carpenter (1), J. Coen (1), F.F. Coppola (1), M. Curtiz (1), F. Darabont (1), J. Demme (1), J. Demy (1), P. Docter (1), S. Donen (1), C.T. Dreyer (1), D. Fincher (1), Victor Fleming (1), M. Forman (1), W. Friedkin (1), T. Gilliam (1), R. Johnson (1), T. Jones (1), B. Joon-Ho (1), W. Kar-Wai (1), G. Kelly (1), M. Kobayashi (1), M. Mann (1), G. Miller (1), G. Lucas (1), K. Lund (1), S. Lumet (1), L. McCarey (1), F. Meirelles (1), R. Minkoff (1), A. Molina (1), J. Peele (1), B. Persichetti (1), S. Raimi (1), P. Ramsey (1), R. Rothman (1), A. Russo (1), J. Russo (1), M.N. Shyamalan (1), A. Stanton (1), V.D. Sica (1), G. D. Torro (1), G. Trousdale (1), L. Unkrich (1), La. Wachowski (1), Li. Wachowski (1), P. Weir (1), O. Welles (1), K. Wise (1), R. Zemeckis (1)

 

Decade Count

1990s (18), 2000s (18), 2010s (12), 1980s (10), 1950s (8), 1960s (7), 1970s (7), 1940s (4), 1930s (2), 1920s (1), 2020s (1)

 

International Film Count

Japan (5), France (3), Italy (3), United Kingdom (2), Australia (1), Brazil (1), Hong Kong (1), Mexico (1), Spain (1), South Korea (1)

 

Franchise Count

Pixar (7), Nolanite Cinematic Universe (4), Alien (2), Before (2), Middle Earth (2), WDAS (2), Spider-Man (2), Star Wars (2), Toy Story (2), Avatar (1), Back to the Future (1), Batman (1), Exorcist (1), Fargo (1), Gladiator (1), The Godfather (1), Hannibal Lecter (1), Hawkguy Cinematic Universe (1), Jurassic Park (1), Mad Max: Fury Road (1), Man With No Name (1), The Matrix (1), Monty Python (1), Overlook Hotel (1), Oz (1), Terminator (1), The Thing (1)

 

Genre Count

Drama (21), Comedy (16), Sci-Fi (15), Historical Fiction (14), Epic (13), Fantasy (13), Animation (12), Horror (11), Action (10), Adventure (10), Black Comedy (7), Crime (7), Musical (6), Romance (6), Thriller (6), Coming of Age (5), Mystery (5), Superhero (5), Christmas/Holiday (4), Comic Book (4), Monster (4), Noir (4), Jidaigeki (3), Post-Apocalyptic (3), Religious (3), Satire (3), Tragedy (3), War (3), Western (3), Anime (2), Courtroom Drama (2), Prison Break/Heist (2), Spaghetti Western (2), Alternative History (1), Neorealism (1), Rom-Com (1), Surrealism (1)

 

 

A Recipe

Tomato Soup Cake

For the cake:
¼ cup salted butter (room temperature)
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 can condensed tomato soup (do not dilute) (10.75 ounces)
½ cup chopped walnuts
1 cup raisins

For the frosting:
½ cup salted butter (room temperature)

8 ounces cream cheese (room temperature)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ½ cups powdered sugar
½ cup chopped walnuts for sprinkling on top (optional)

 

Instructions on: https://thebestcakerecipes.com/tomato-soup-cake/

 

 

 

Edited August 15 by The Panda

[The Panda]

Number 12

 

 

"The horror... The horror..."

 

Synopsis

 

"At the height of the Vietnam war, Captain Benjamin Willard is sent on a dangerous mission that, officially, "does not exist, nor will it ever exist." His goal is to locate - and eliminate - a mysterious Green Beret Colonel named Walter Kurtz, who has been leading his personal army on illegal guerrilla missions into enemy territory." - The Movie Database

 

 

From the Scholar

 

"Among its many surprises, Francis Ford Coppola’s film of the Vietnam War, Apocalypse Now, shows the images of two key intertexts of high modernism “prominently displayed” (Zuker 77–78) in Kurtz’s compound: Jessie Weston’s From Ritual to Romance and Sir James Frazer’s The Golden Bough. 1 These two texts on comparative mythology and religion—associated with the agnostic work of the Cambridge anthropologists of the early twentieth century—undergird the mythological framework of the premier poem of high modernism, T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land, that is also considered the most significant poetic expression of World War I. Why did Coppola make a film about the Vietnam War that eschews historical verisimilitude and reference in favor of what T. S. Eliot called “the mythical method” (Eliot, Selected Prose 178)? Coppola’s choice—to construct his film upon Joseph Conrad’s novella, Heart of Darkness, Eliot’s The Waste Land and other poetry, and the mythic quests and poetic pilgrimages they embody—seems especially eccentric for the treatment of the Vietnam War, which was not, like World War I, a “literary war” (Fussell 155). Culturally, the Vietnam War was a video war and, aesthetically, a psychedelic war. Indeed, Coppola called Apocalypse Now “the first $30 million [End Page 730] surrealist movie” (qtd. in Goodwin and Wise 262) ever made. His comment recalls another strange anachronism in the recrudescence of early-twentieth-century art forms to address mid- and late-twentieth-century wars. However effectively modernism may have articulated World War I, it failed to serve as an expressive medium for representing World War II. Yet Surrealism, its avant-garde contemporary, did belatedly serve to depict World War II in Volker Schlöndorff’s cinematic translation of Günter Grass’s The Tin Drum—which shared the Palme d’Or award for best film with Apocalypse Now at the 1979 Cannes Film Festival. The clue to the conundrum of Coppola’s choice of modernism’s mythical method may lie precisely in the problematic power of the surreal to express irrationality, absurdity, incoherence, fragmentation, and futility. Apocalypse Now’s many surrealistic scenes and moments forcefully convey the war’s incomprehensibility. But by themselves they do not produce an insight or recognition of Vietnam’s significance for the American public, or a calculus for its damage to America’s moral life. Like Eliot facing the modern world after World War I, Coppola in the aftermath of Vietnam required “a way of controlling, of ordering, of giving significance to the immense panorama of futility and anarchy which is contemporary history” (Eliot, Selected Prose 177). The “mythical method” served them both."

- Norris, Margot. "Modernism and Vietnam: Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now." MFS Modern Fiction Studies 44, no. 3 (1998): 730-766.

 

From the Filmmaker

 

 

From the Critic

 

"The style-less Star Wars launched American cinema into infantilism. It instilled a taste for childish, mundane, B-movie fantasy absent visual creativity — a new low — whereas the sensibility in Apocalypse Now was ambivalent. Mixing pessimism with astonishment, it expanded cultural unease on a grand 70mm scale (richly photographed by Vittorio Storaro).

 

The opening scene is extraordinary film-student art. Coppola mounts an unforgettable visual montage of Willard’s Saigon-hotel nervous breakdown: his panicked upside-down eyes, enflamed images of destroyed forestry, and an annoying, time-ticking ceiling fan are intercut with traumatic, roaring helicopter blades. The film works best employing such collages. Overlapping close-ups (Willard’s face, Kurtz’s face, and Asian statuary) are especially cinematic — unrushed imagery that inspires thought and feeling.

 

Apocalypse Now’s mixed messages go from a Pentagon Papers analysis (Willard yields to Kurtz’s assessment that “the war can be won with a quarter of our force,” and we get discussions on the hypocrisy of “assassins accusing assassins”) to awesome military-industrial-complex showpieces.

 

Coppola’s coup de grâce displays both American military might and sybaritic indifference, featuring Robert Duvall’s bantam turn as Kilgore (a Kurt Vonnegut reference?), who likes to mix surfing with a strafing ground war. The sheer genius of photographing needle-nosed American jet fighters charging through the air as they descend on a quiet Vietnamese school (a front for Vietcong saboteurs) works on a primitive emotional level while exulting in an advanced society’s technological power. The entire sequence is scored to Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyrie — first heard as a recording and then as an anti-war alarm that’s part of the movie’s score. After this immensely disturbing analog to Leni Riefenstahl’s Triumph of the Will, American film culture could never be the same."

- Armond White, National Review

 

 

From the Public

 

"It's a monster of a film. The pacing is uneven but many of the scenes are truly unforgettable. The scale of outdoor shooting was a feat nearly unparalleled in film history. And once Willard reaches the temple, the film reaches at the same time a brutal intensity and nearly drug-like dream quality." - @IndustriousAngel

 

 

Factoids

 

Previous Year's Rankings

2012 - #30, 2013 - #44, 2014 - Unranked, 2016 - #29, 2018 - #56, 2020 - #37, 2022 – #32

 

Director Count

C. Nolan (5), S. Spielberg (4), J. Cameron (3), A. Hitchcock (3), A. Kurosawa (3), D. Lynch (3), B. Bird (2), F.F. Coppola (2), H. Miyazaki (2), P. Jackson (2), S. Kubrick (2), J. Lasseter (2), S. Lee (2), S. Leone (2), R. Linklater (2), M. Scorsese (2), Q. Tarantino (2), R. Scott (2), B. Wilder (2), R. Allers (1), R. Altman (1), P.T. Anderson (1), F. Capra (1), J. Carpenter (1), J. Coen (1), M. Curtiz (1), F. Darabont (1), J. Demme (1), J. Demy (1), P. Docter (1), S. Donen (1), C.T. Dreyer (1), D. Fincher (1), Victor Fleming (1), M. Forman (1), W. Friedkin (1), T. Gilliam (1), R. Johnson (1), T. Jones (1), B. Joon-Ho (1), W. Kar-Wai (1), G. Kelly (1), M. Kobayashi (1), M. Mann (1), G. Miller (1), G. Lucas (1), K. Lund (1), S. Lumet (1), L. McCarey (1), F. Meirelles (1), R. Minkoff (1), A. Molina (1), J. Peele (1), B. Persichetti (1), S. Raimi (1), P. Ramsey (1), R. Rothman (1), A. Russo (1), J. Russo (1), M.N. Shyamalan (1), A. Stanton (1), V.D. Sica (1), G. D. Torro (1), G. Trousdale (1), L. Unkrich (1), La. Wachowski (1), Li. Wachowski (1), P. Weir (1), O. Welles (1), K. Wise (1), R. Zemeckis (1)

 

Decade Count

1990s (18), 2000s (18), 2010s (12), 1980s (10), 1950s (8), 1970s (8), 1960s (7), 1940s (4), 1930s (2), 1920s (1), 2020s (1)

 

International Film Count

Japan (5), France (3), Italy (3), United Kingdom (2), Australia (1), Brazil (1), Hong Kong (1), Mexico (1), Spain (1), South Korea (1)

 

Franchise Count

Pixar (7), Nolanite Cinematic Universe (4), Alien (2), Before (2), Middle Earth (2), WDAS (2), Spider-Man (2), Star Wars (2), Toy Story (2), Avatar (1), Back to the Future (1), Batman (1), Exorcist (1), Fargo (1), Gladiator (1), The Godfather (1), Hannibal Lecter (1), Hawkguy Cinematic Universe (1), Jurassic Park (1), Mad Max: Fury Road (1), Man With No Name (1), The Matrix (1), Monty Python (1), Overlook Hotel (1), Oz (1), Terminator (1), The Thing (1)

 

Genre Count

Drama (21), Comedy (16), Sci-Fi (15), Epic (14), Historical Fiction (14), Fantasy (13), Animation (12), Horror (11), Action (10), Adventure (10), Black Comedy (7), Crime (7), Musical (6), Romance (6), Thriller (6), Coming of Age (5), Mystery (5), Superhero (5), Christmas/Holiday (4), Comic Book (4), Monster (4), Noir (4), War (4), Jidaigeki (3), Post-Apocalyptic (3), Religious (3), Satire (3), Tragedy (3), Western (3), Anime (2), Courtroom Drama (2), Prison Break/Heist (2), Spaghetti Western (2), Surrealism (2), Alternative History (1), Neorealism (1), Rom-Com (1)

 

 

A Recipe

Apocalypse Chow

Ingredients:
Tabasco sauce
Dried red pepper flakes
2 scoops of Cold Sweat Ice Cream
1 fresh red chile, seeded and finely chopped
1 teaspoon finely chopped preserved ginger
Chili oil
1 shot of chili vodka

Preparation:
Take 2 saucers and drizzle one with Tabasco sauce, the other in red pepper flakes. Dip the rim of a martini glass first in the Tabasco, then in the pepper flakes.

Place the ice cream in the glass. Decorate with the chopped chile and ginger, and sprinkle with the chili oil. Serve with a shot of chili vodka poured over the top and set alight.

 

From: https://cookingbythebook.com/dedicated-drinkers-diary/apocalypse-chow-cocktail-final-kick/

 

 

 

[The Panda]

Number 11

 

 

"Farewell and adieu to you fair Spanish ladies"

 

Synopsis

 

"Regarded as a watershed moment in motion picture history, Jaws was the prototypical summer blockbuster and won several awards for its music and editing. It was the highest-grossing film of all time until the release of Star Wars two years later; both films were pivotal in establishing the modern Hollywood business model, which pursues high box-office returns from action and adventure films with simple high-concept premises, released during the summer in thousands of theaters and advertised heavily. Jaws was followed by three sequels (none of which involved Spielberg or Benchley) and many imitative thrillers. In 2001, the Library of Congress selected it for preservation in the United States National Film Registry." - Wikipedia

 

 

From the Scholar

 

"JAWS became the biggest and fastest grossing film in the history of the industry on September 5th, only 78 days after release. Three days later it had passed the previous record gross of THE GODFATHER by more than $38 million (Variety, Sept. 10, 1975, p. 3). This enormous popularity means JAWS is an expression of the society’s consciousness, and should be approached critically in terms of that consciousness rather than as the private vision of a director. Spielberg’s film and Benchley’s novel have cashed in on the emotions already attached to people-eating sharks by creating fictional and filmic structures which involve audiences with the shark as an image. But these structures are more than simply a series of individually created narrative events. They are also a series of explanations and interpretations of the shark image in terms of the shared concerns and fears of our society.

 

In JAWS the shark reflects a disguised hatred of women and the preoccupation of our society with sadistic sexuality, a view of business as predatory and irresponsible in human terms, and a fear of retribution for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. The film resolves these issues and fears by externalizing them from the protagonists and solving them in a macho fantasy, fear-and-bravery ending which denies any possibility of concerted social action, excludes women as weak and ineffectual, and erases the past and its guilts.

 

The question of whether or not it is reasonable to discuss Hollywood “escapist” films like JAWS in a context of social and historical events and concerns like these has already been raised in JUMP CUT, in Fred Kaplan’s article on disaster movies in No. 6 (“Riches From Ruins” ) and the replies to it by David Rosen (“Drugged Popcorn” ) and Ernest Larsen (“Lemmings and Escapism” ) in No. 8, and Kaplan’s reply in this issue. My own position is closer to that of Rosen and Larsen, although I agree with many of Kaplan’s specific points.

 

I assume that the popularity of a film like JAWS means that the film articulates the current concerns, fears, and desires of the people who see it and recommend it to their friends. I also assume that these people like the film in part because they recognize as true, or familiar, or intelligible the view of reality and the narrative interpretations and causal relationships the film presents. The more widely popular a film, the more confidently we can say that the view of reality and the social and psychological concerns articulated in the film are those of society as a whole. Or at least, that those concerns are held in common by a large proportion of the society’s members, no matter how much they may differ in other ways. A mass market film like JAWS, made to sell as many tickets as possible, is an attempt to articulate in fictional and filmic terms the shared concerns of the society. Box office grosses are the only proof of success. Spielberg has said he wanted to make a movie, not a film (Carl Gottlieb, Java Log, New York: Dell, 1975, p. 42). His distinction is between a work aimed at a mass audience and one aimed at a smaller, elite audience."

- Rubey, Dan. "The Jaws in the mirror." Jump Cut 10, no. 11 (1976): 20-23.

 

 

From the Filmmaker

 

 

From the Critic

 

 

From the Public

 

"Which brings us to the shark itself. Some of the footage in the film is of an actual great white shark. The rest uses a mechanical shark patterned on the real thing. The illusion is complete. We see the shark close up, we look in its relentless eye, and it just plain feels like a shark. "Jaws" is a great adventure movie of the kind we don't get very often any more. It's clean-cut adventure, without the gratuitous violence of so many action pictures. It has the necessary amount of blood and guts to work -- but none extra. And it's one hell of a good story, brilliantly told." - @baumer

 

 

Factoids

 

Previous Year's Rankings

2012 - #36, 2013 - #11, 2014 - #18, 2016 - #17, 2018 - #18, 2020 - #11, 2022 – #7

 

Director Count

C. Nolan (5), S. Spielberg (5), J. Cameron (3), A. Hitchcock (3), A. Kurosawa (3), D. Lynch (3), B. Bird (2), F.F. Coppola (2), H. Miyazaki (2), P. Jackson (2), S. Kubrick (2), J. Lasseter (2), S. Lee (2), S. Leone (2), R. Linklater (2), M. Scorsese (2), Q. Tarantino (2), R. Scott (2), B. Wilder (2), R. Allers (1), R. Altman (1), P.T. Anderson (1), F. Capra (1), J. Carpenter (1), J. Coen (1), M. Curtiz (1), F. Darabont (1), J. Demme (1), J. Demy (1), P. Docter (1), S. Donen (1), C.T. Dreyer (1), D. Fincher (1), Victor Fleming (1), M. Forman (1), W. Friedkin (1), T. Gilliam (1), R. Johnson (1), T. Jones (1), B. Joon-Ho (1), W. Kar-Wai (1), G. Kelly (1), M. Kobayashi (1), M. Mann (1), G. Miller (1), G. Lucas (1), K. Lund (1), S. Lumet (1), L. McCarey (1), F. Meirelles (1), R. Minkoff (1), A. Molina (1), J. Peele (1), B. Persichetti (1), S. Raimi (1), P. Ramsey (1), R. Rothman (1), A. Russo (1), J. Russo (1), M.N. Shyamalan (1), A. Stanton (1), V.D. Sica (1), G. D. Torro (1), G. Trousdale (1), L. Unkrich (1), La. Wachowski (1), Li. Wachowski (1), P. Weir (1), O. Welles (1), K. Wise (1), R. Zemeckis (1)

 

Decade Count

1990s (18), 2000s (18), 2010s (12), 1980s (10), 1970s (9), 1950s (8), 1960s (7), 1940s (4), 1930s (2), 1920s (1), 2020s (1)

 

International Film Count

Japan (5), France (3), Italy (3), United Kingdom (2), Australia (1), Brazil (1), Hong Kong (1), Mexico (1), Spain (1), South Korea (1)

 

Franchise Count

Pixar (7), Nolanite Cinematic Universe (4), Alien (2), Before (2), Middle Earth (2), WDAS (2), Spider-Man (2), Star Wars (2), Toy Story (2), Avatar (1), Back to the Future (1), Batman (1), Exorcist (1), Fargo (1), Gladiator (1), The Godfather (1), Hannibal Lecter (1), Hawkguy Cinematic Universe (1), Jaws (1), Jurassic Park (1), Mad Max: Fury Road (1), Man With No Name (1), The Matrix (1), Monty Python (1), Overlook Hotel (1), Oz (1), Terminator (1), The Thing (1)

 

Genre Count

Drama (21), Comedy (16), Sci-Fi (15), Epic (14), Historical Fiction (14), Fantasy (13), Horror (13), Animation (12), Action (10), Adventure (10), Black Comedy (7), Crime (7), Thriller (7), Musical (6), Romance (6), Coming of Age (5), Monster (5), Mystery (5), Superhero (5), Christmas/Holiday (4), Comic Book (4), Noir (4), War (4), Jidaigeki (3), Post-Apocalyptic (3), Religious (3), Satire (3), Tragedy (3), Western (3), Anime (2), Courtroom Drama (2), Prison Break/Heist (2), Spaghetti Western (2), Surrealism (2), Alternative History (1), Neorealism (1), Rom-Com (1)

 

 

A Recipe

Grilled Gulf Shark

 

Ingredients
2 (8 ounce) shark steaks

2 cups milk

1 tablespoon lemon juice

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

 

Directions
Place the shark steaks in a shallow dish and pour milk over them to cover. Let stand for 2 hours, or refrigerate overnight.

Prepare a grill for medium-high heat. Remove the shark steaks from the pan and pat dry. Discard leftover milk. Season the steaks with lemon juice, sea salt and pepper.

Grill the steaks until meat is firm, about 15 minutes, turning once. Fish should appear white all the way through.

 

From: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/158421/grilled-gulf-shark/

 

 

 

[The Panda]

A little different than the just misses, here are all of the films deemed good enough by a single person to put it on their list, but still only towards to bottom (ie. all the films which received a single point)

 

The Secret of NIMH (dir. Don Bluth, 1982)
Quest for Fire (dir. Jean-Jacques Annaud, 1981)
Hero (dir. Zhang Yimou, 2002)
Only Yesterday (dir. Isao Takahata, 1991)
Searching for Bobby Fischer (dir. Steven Zaillian, 1993)
Boys Don't Cry (dir. Kimberly Peirce, 1999)
The Wiz (dir. Sidney Lumet, 1978)
Adventures in Babysitting (dir. Chris Columbus, 1987)
To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julia Newmar (dir. Beeban Kidron, 1995)
The Crow (dir. Alex Proyas, 1994)
Gia (dir. Michael Cristofer, 1998)
Mimic (dir. Guillermo Del Torro, 1997)
Dancer in the Dark (dir. Lalrs von Trier, 2001)
Nightmare Alley (dir. Guillermo del Torro, 2021)
Queen of the Damned (dir. Michael Rymer, 2002)
Girl, Interrupted (dir. James Mangold, 1999)
Red Eyes (dir. Wes Craven, 2005)
The Incredible Shrinking Woman (dir. Joel Schumacher, 1981)
Three Thousand Years of Longing (dir. George Miller, 2022)
Evil Dead (dir. Fede Alvarez, 2013)
Somewhere (dir. Sofia Coppola, 2010)
Audition (dir. Takashi Miike, 1999)
Spanglish (dir. James  L Brooks, 2004)
Only Yesterday (dir. John M. Stahl, 1933)
Cosmopolis (dir. David Cronenberg, 2012)
Ishtar (dir. Elaine May, 1987)
Carlito's Way (dir. Brian de Palma, 1993)
We Bought a Zoo (dir. Cameron Crowe, 2011)
Histoire(s) du cinema (dir. Jean-Luc Godard, 1998)
The Big Gundown (dir. Sergio Sollima, 1967)
Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (dir. Paul W.S. Anderson, 2016)
Pacifiction (dir. Albert Serra, 2022)
Right Now, Wrong Then (dir. Hong Sang-soo, 2015)
The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1972)
Beverly Hills Cop (dir.Martin Brest, 1984)
Lion (dir. Garth Davis, 2016)
Deadpool (dir. Tim Miller, 2016)
Spider-Man: Homecoming (dir. Jon Watts, 2017)
Insidious (dir.James Wan, 2011)
Furious 7 (dir. James Wan, 2015)
Death of a Salesman (dir. Volker Schlondorff, 1985)
The Imitation Game (dir. Morten Tyldum, 2014)
Because of Winn-Dixie (dir. Wayne Wang, 2005)
In the Tall Grass (dir. Vincenzo Natali, 2019)
Romeo + Juliet (dir. Baz Luhrmann, 1996)
Snakes on a Plane (dir. David R. Ellis, 2006)
The Ring (dir. Gore Verbinski, 2002)
Touching the Void (dir. Kevin Macdonald, 2003)
The Plague Dogs (dir. Martin Rosen, 1982)
Gerry (dir. Gus Van Sant, 2002)
Apollo 11 (dir. Peter Jackson, 2019)
Millenium Actress (dir. Satoshi Kon, 2001)
Mandy (dir. Panos Cosmatos, 2018)
A Cure for Wellness (dir. Gore Verbinski, 2017)
The People Under the Stairs (dir. Wes Craven, 1991)
Auto Focus (dir. Paul Schrader, 2002)
Donnie Darko (dir. Richard Kelly, 2001)
eXistenZ (dir. David Cronenberg, 1999)
Thief (dir. Michael Mann, 1981)
In the Line of Duty 4 (dir. Yuen Woo-Ping, 1989)
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (dir. John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, 2023)
Commando (dir. Mark L. Lester, 1985)
Infernal Affairs (dir. Andrew Lau Wai-Keung and Alan Mak, 2002)
Iron Angels (dir. Teresa Woo, 1987)
Le Femme Nikita (dir. Luc Besson, 1990)
Lethal Panther (dir. Godfrey Ho, 1990)
Ong-Bak (dir. Bong Joon-ho, 2003)
Slap Shot (dir. George Roy Hill, 1977)
The Land Before Time (dir. Don Bluth, 1988)
Misery (dir. Rob Reiner, 1990)
Kubo and the Two Strings (dir. Travis Knight, 2016)
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (dir. Rian Johnson, 2022)
Da 5 Bloods (dir. Spike Lee, 2020)
The Rider (dir. Chloe Zhao, 2017)
Bad Education (dir. Corey Finley, 2019)
John Wick: Chapter 2 (dir. Chad Stahelski, 2017)
Mulan (dir. Tony Bancroft and Barry Cookk, 1998)
Wreck-It Ralph (dir. Rich Moore, 2012)
The Road to El Dorado (dir. Bilbo Bergeron and Don Paul, 2000)
The Jungle Book (dir. Jon Favreau, 2016)
A Goofy Movie (dir. Kevin Lima and Paul Brizzi, 1995)
I Saw the Devil (dir. Kim Jae-Woon, 2010)
Elemental (dir. Peter Sohn, 2023)
Bonnie & Clyde (dir. Arthur Penn, 1967)
L'eclisse (dir. Michaelangelo Antonioni, 1962)
Ghost World (dir. Terry Zwigorf, 2001)
Werckmeister Harmonies (dir. Bela Tarr, 2000)
Cries & Whispers (dir. Ingmar Bergman, 1971)
Melancholia (dir. Lars von Trier, 2011)
Far From Heaven (dir. Todd Haynes, 2002)
The Great Beauty (dir. Paulo Sorrentino, 2013)
Perfect Blue (Dir. Satoshi Kon, 1997)
Clerks II (dir. Kevin Smith, 2006)
The Jungle Book (dir. Wolfgang Reitherman, 1967)
Holy Motors (dir. Leos Carax, 2012)
East of Eden (dir. Elia Kazan, 1955)
Gold Diggers of 1933 (dir. Busby Berkelly and Mervyn LeRoy, 1933)
The Great Indian Kitchen (dir …, …)
Incendies (dir. …, …)
The Gangs of Wasseypur Part 1 (dir. …, …)
The Wrestler (dir. Aronofsky, 2008)
Poltergeist (dir. Hooper, 1982)
The Jerk (dir. Rob Reiner, 1979)
Lethal Weapon (dir. Donner, 1987)
Three Amigos (dir. John Landis, 1986)
Friday (dir. Gray, 1995)
The Warriors (dir. Hill, 1979)
Fast Five (dir. Lin, 2011)
Zoolander (dir. Ben Stiller, 2001)
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (dir. George Roy Hill, 1969)
Goldfinger (dir. Guy Hamilton, 1964)
Cool Hand Luke (dir. Stuart Rosenberg, 1967)
August Rush (dir. .., …)
Straight Outta Compton (dir. …, …)
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Roderick Rules (dir. …, …)
Room (dir. …, …)
The Muppets (dir. …, 2011)
Taken (dir. …, …)
Spirit: The Stallion of Cimarron (dir. …, …)
We're the Millers (dir. …, …)
The Squid and the Whale (dir. …, …)
Booksmart (dir. …, …)
The Big Sick (dir. …, 2017)
Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (dir. …, 1974)
The Muppet Movie (dir. Jim Henson, 1979)
Klute (dir. …, 1971)
Broadcast News (dir. …, 1987)
Serpico (dir. …, 1973)
Sleuth (dir. …, 1972)
The Natural (dir. …, 1984)
Midsommar (dir. Ari Aster, 2019)
Austin Powers: The International Man of Mystery (dir. Jay Roach, 1997)
The VVitch (dir. Robert Eggers, 2015)
Captain Phillips (dir. Paul Greengrass, 2013)
Rain Man (dir. Barry Levinson, 1987)
The Ten Commandments (dir. Decil B Demille, 1956)
Elvis (dir. Baz Luhrmann, 2022)
The Great Gatsby (dir. Baz Luhrmann, 2013)
The Hangover (dir. Todd Phillips, 2009)
Marriage Italian Style (dir. Vittorio De Sica, 1964)
Reds (dir. Warren Beatty, 1981)
Everybody Wants Some!!! (dir. Richard Linklater, …)
Decision tto Leave (dir. …, …)
Y Tu Mama Tambien (dir. Alfonso Cuaron, …)
Hustlers (dir. …, …)
Finding Dory (dir. Andrew Stanton, 2016)
The End of the Tour (dir. …, …)
The Virgin Spring (dir. Ingmar Bergman, 1960)
Le Trou (dir. Jacques Becker, 1997)
Le Cercle Rouge (dir. Jean-Pierre Melville, 1993)
Sabrina (dir. Billy Wilder, 1954)
My Name is Julia Ross (dir. Joseph H. Lewis, 1945)
To Have and Have Not (dir. Howard Hanks, 1944)
Judas and the Black Messiah (dir. Shaka King, 2021)
I Lost My Body (dir. Jeremy Clapin, 2019)
I, Tonya (dir. Craig Gillespie, 2018)
Superfly (dir. Gordon Parks Jr, 1972)
The French Dispatch (dir. Wes Anderson, 2021)
2010: The Year We Made Contact (dir. Peter Hyams, 1984)
Assault on the Precinct 13 (dir. John Carpenter, 1976)
Sleepy Hollow (dir. Tim Burton, 1999)
Game Night t(dir. John Francis Day and Jonathan Goldstein, 2018)
Macross: Do You Remember Love? (dir. Noboru Ishigurro and Shoji Kawamori, 1984)
Lost Highway (dir. David Lynch, 1997)
The Downfall (dir. Oliver Hirshbiegel, 2005)
The Omen (dir. Richard Donner, 1976)
3:10 to Yuman (dir. James Mangold, 2007)
The Killing (dir. Stanley Kubrick, 1956)
Long Day's Journey into Night (dir. Bi Gan, 2018)
Where the Wild Things Are (dir. Spike Jonze, 2009)
Rango (dir. Gore Verbinski, 2011)
Anyone But You (dir. Will Gluck, 2023)
Society of the Snow (dir. JA Bayona, 2023)
El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (dir. Vince Gilligan, 2019)
Batman: Gotham by Gaslight (dir. Sami Liu, 2018)
Rush (dir. Ron Howard, 2013)
Dawn of the Dead (dir. George A. Romero, 1978)
OJ Made in America (dir. Ezra Edelman, 2016)
The Burbs (dir. Joe Dante, 1989)
The Band Wagon (dir. Vincente Minnelli, 1953)
Lifeboat (dir. Alfred Hitchcock, 1944)
Dead Ringers (dir. David Cronenberg, 1988)
The Cremator (dir. Juraj Herz, 1969)
Sparrow (dir. Johnnie To, 2008)
O Kadhhail Kanmani (dir. Mani Ratman, 2015)
Benediction (dir. Terence Davies, 2021)
Public Enemies (dir. Michael Mann, 2009)
Close-Up (dir. Abbas Kiarostami, 1999)
The Ladies Man (dir. Reginald Hudlin, 2000)
Master Gardener (dir. Paul Schrader, 2023)
Who Killed Captain Alex? (dir. Nabawana I.G.G., 2010)
Aftersun (dir. Charlotte Wells, 2022)
American Hustle (dir. David O. Russell, 2013)
Sense and Sensibility (dir. Ang Lee, 2005)
Time of the Gypsies (dir. Emir Kusturica, 1988)
Fail-Safe (dir. Sidney Lumet, 1964)
Looper (dir. Rian Johnson, 2012)
Eve's Bayou (dir. Kasi Llememons, 1997)
Dark City (dir. Alex Proyas, 1998)
Odd Man Out (dir. Carol Reed, 1947)
White Heat (dir. Raoul Walsh, 1949)
5 Fingers (dir. Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1952)
Batman (dir. Leslie H. Masterson, 1966)
Juggernaut (dir. Richard Lester, 1974)
Something Wild (dir. Jonathan Demme, 1986)
The Long Day Closes (dir. Terence Davies, 1992)
My Winnipeg (dir. Guy Maddin, 2007)
Frances Ha (dir. Noah Baumbach, 2012)
The Duke of Burgundy (dir. Peter Strickland, 2014)
The Florida Project (dir. Sean Baker, 2017)
Anatomy of a Fall (dir. Justine Triet, 2023)
Past Lives (dir. Celine Song, 2023)
American Movie (dir. Chris Smith, 1999)
Point Blank (dir. John Boorman, 1967)
The Big Sleep (dir. Howard Hanks, 1946)
The Killing Field (dir. Roland Joffe, 1984)
Lagaan (dir. Ashutosh Gowariker, 2001)
Wild Tales (dir. Damián Szifron, 2013)
A Simple Life (dir. Ann Hui, 2011)
Shoplifters (dir. Hirokazu Koreeda, 2018)
Big Trouble in Little China (dir. John Carpenter, 1986)
Ashes of Time (dir. Wong Kar-wai, 1994)
Hamlet (dir. Kenneth Branagh, 1996)
2046 (dir. Wong Kar-Wai, 2004)

[The Panda]

Number 10

 

 

"Dave, stop. Stop, will you? Stop, Dave. Will you stop Dave? Stop, Dave."

 

Synopsis

 

"With 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, director Stanley Kubrick redefined the limits of filmmaking in this classic science fiction masterpiece. To begin his voyage into the future, Kubrick visits our prehistoric ape-ancestry past, then leaps millennia into colonized space, and ultimately whisks astronaut Bowman into unchartered realms of space, perhaps even into immortality." - American Cinematheque

 

From the Scholar

 

"The rhetorical message of Kubrick's2007 is religious in nature. ArthurClarke, who wrote the book by the sametitle and who collaborated with Kubrickon the movie, said:2001: A Space Odyssey is about man's pastand future life in Space. It's about concernwith man's hierarchy in the universe, whichis probably pretty low. It's about the reac-tions of humanity to the discovery of higherintelligence in the universe. We set out withthe deliberate intention of creating a myth. M-G-M doesn't know it yet, but they'vefooted the bill for the first $10,500,000.00religious film. (Agel, 1970, p. 10)In a Playboy magazine interviewKubrick was asked, "Would you agreewith those critics who call it a pro-foundly religious film?" Kubrick's an-swer:

 

I will say that the God concept is at the heartof 2001—but not any traditional, anthropo-morphic image of God. I don't believe in anyof Earth's monotheistic religions, but I dobelieve that one can construct an intriguingscientific definition of God. . . . It's reason-able to assume that there must be, in fact,countless billions of such planets where bio-logical life has arisen, the odds of someproportion of such life developing intelli-gence are high. It seems likely that there arebillions of planets in the universe . . . whereintelligent life . . . is hundreds of thousandsof millions of years in advance of us. . . .These beings would be gods to the billions ofless advanced races in the universe, just asman would appear a god to an ant thatsomehow comprehended man's existence.. . .In their final evolutionary stage, they mustdevelop into an integrated collective immor-tal consciousness. They would be incompre-hensible to us except as gods; and if thetendrils of their consciousness ever brushedmen's minds, it is only the hand of God wecould grasp as an explanation. ("PlayboyInterview," 1970, p. 330)The central motif of 2007 is notscience technology, but the spiritualfuture of humanity. Kubrick's symbolicthemes include victimage, sacrifice,death and rebirth, and evolutionarytransformation and transcendence, asour analysis will substantiate. Kubrickhas taken basic spiritual concepts oforder and redemption and applied themto the total, cosmic sweep of humanexistence."

- Williams, Dale E. "2001: A space odyssey: A warning before its time." Critical Studies in Media Communication 1, no. 3 (1984): 311-322.

 

 

From the Filmmaker

 

 

From the Critic

 

"There are, in all, only about 40 minutes of dialogue in this 149-minute film. The structure of 2001 is musical rather than dramatic—a fact that may help explain some of the widespread critical hostility the film received when it was released. There are three movements to 2001, but they are not the conventional three acts that critics and audiences expect to find in big-budget Hollywood movies. The connection of the three movements of 2001 is not immediately apparent, but it is nonetheless logical. The first movement concerns itself with the black monolith, that enigmatic geometric shape placed on both the earth and the moon some four million years ago. The “Dawn of Man” sequence, in which, according to Arthur C. Clarke, incredibly advanced extraterrestrial beings give our anthropoid ancestors the concept of tools, ends with one of the most brilliant matched cuts in film history.

 

...

 

The paradox of 2001 is that this work, whose story and whose actual making were so dependent upon human technology, itself a concrete manifestation of human logic, should ask us to move beyond logic, beyond concrete realities altogether, that it should take us into the domain hitherto reserved for theology: speculation on human destiny. Like all great films, 2001 takes hold, not merely of the eye and ear, but also of the mind. It is concerned not with the evolution of man’s body, but with the evolution of man’s mind and spirit. It is remarkable not only for its awesome visual effects, which have never been surpassed, but also for the fact that it is, at its core and its conclusion, a sacred drama for a secular society."

- Howard Suber, The Criterion Collection

 

 

From the Public

 

"From the very outset a strong sense of awe is placed directly on the viewer.  The magical thing about this is that awe comes from Kubrick himself.  It doesn't take long to gather the love and admiration Kubrick holds for the source material, and that love and admiration quickly rubs off on the viewer.  I've heard that Kubrick is known for attention to detail, but one does not truly grasp what that means until they experience it first hand.

 

While not going into too many specifics, the most amazing aspect of this film is the fact that, despite it being firmly ingrained in the science realm, it can be a transcendent viewing experience for both scientifically-inclined and religious folk.  The story unfolds in such a way that both modes of thought have ample to chew on, and items to interpret.  It's open-minded cinema that simultaneously appeals to opposite ends of the spectrum as it pertains to existential themes.

 

In a way, the initial viewing of this film is very much like the monoliths portrayed in the film.  Specifically, it opens one up to the material, and entices one to tackle it with a different mindset in subsequent viewings.  I feel like I merely dipped my damn toes into what the film ultimately has to offer.  Perhaps one day I'll tread lightly into the deep end."

- @mattmav45

 

 

Factoids

 

Previous Year's Rankings

2012 - #22, 2013 - #17, 2014 - #43, 2016 - #14, 2018 - #60, 2020 - #55, 2022 – #46

 

Director Count

C. Nolan (5), S. Spielberg (5), J. Cameron (3), A. Hitchcock (3), S. Kubrick (3), A. Kurosawa (3), D. Lynch (3), B. Bird (2), F.F. Coppola (2), H. Miyazaki (2), P. Jackson (2), J. Lasseter (2), S. Lee (2), S. Leone (2), R. Linklater (2), M. Scorsese (2), Q. Tarantino (2), R. Scott (2), B. Wilder (2), R. Allers (1), R. Altman (1), P.T. Anderson (1), F. Capra (1), J. Carpenter (1), J. Coen (1), M. Curtiz (1), F. Darabont (1), J. Demme (1), J. Demy (1), P. Docter (1), S. Donen (1), C.T. Dreyer (1), D. Fincher (1), Victor Fleming (1), M. Forman (1), W. Friedkin (1), T. Gilliam (1), R. Johnson (1), T. Jones (1), B. Joon-Ho (1), W. Kar-Wai (1), G. Kelly (1), M. Kobayashi (1), M. Mann (1), G. Miller (1), G. Lucas (1), K. Lund (1), S. Lumet (1), L. McCarey (1), F. Meirelles (1), R. Minkoff (1), A. Molina (1), J. Peele (1), B. Persichetti (1), S. Raimi (1), P. Ramsey (1), R. Rothman (1), A. Russo (1), J. Russo (1), M.N. Shyamalan (1), A. Stanton (1), V.D. Sica (1), G. D. Torro (1), G. Trousdale (1), L. Unkrich (1), La. Wachowski (1), Li. Wachowski (1), P. Weir (1), O. Welles (1), K. Wise (1), R. Zemeckis (1)

 

Decade Count

1990s (18), 2000s (18), 2010s (12), 1980s (10), 1970s (9), 1950s (8), 1960s (8), 1940s (4), 1930s (2), 1920s (1), 2020s (1)

 

International Film Count

Japan (5), France (3), Italy (3), United Kingdom (2), Australia (1), Brazil (1), Hong Kong (1), Mexico (1), Spain (1), South Korea (1)

 

Franchise Count

Pixar (7), Nolanite Cinematic Universe (4), Alien (2), Before (2), Middle Earth (2), WDAS (2), Spider-Man (2), Star Wars (2), Toy Story (2), Avatar (1), Back to the Future (1), Batman (1), Exorcist (1), Fargo (1), Gladiator (1), The Godfather (1), Hannibal Lecter (1), Hawkguy Cinematic Universe (1), Jaws (1), Jurassic Park (1), Mad Max: Fury Road (1), Man With No Name (1), The Matrix (1), Monty Python (1), Overlook Hotel (1), Oz (1), Terminator (1), The Thing (1)

 

Genre Count

Drama (21), Comedy (16), Sci-Fi (16), Epic (15), Historical Fiction (14), Fantasy (13), Horror (13), Animation (12), Action (10), Adventure (10), Black Comedy (7), Crime (7), Thriller (7), Musical (6), Romance (6), Coming of Age (5), Monster (5), Mystery (5), Superhero (5), Christmas/Holiday (4), Comic Book (4), Noir (4), Religious (4), War (4), Jidaigeki (3), Post-Apocalyptic (3), Satire (3), Surrealism (3), Tragedy (3), Western (3), Anime (2), Courtroom Drama (2), Prison Break/Heist (2), Spaghetti Western (2), Alternative History (1), Neorealism (1), Rom-Com (1)

 

 

A Recipe