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

[The Panda]

Number 87

 

 

"We're on an express elevator to hell, going down!"

 

Synopsis

 

"Ripley, the sole survivor of the Nostromo's deadly encounter with the monstrous Alien, returns to Earth after drifting through space in hypersleep for 57 years. Although her story is initially met with skepticism, she agrees to accompany a team of Colonial Marines back to LV-426." - The Movie Database

 

 

From the Scholar

 

"James Cameron's 1986 film 'Aliens' contains a fascinating exploration of the way Western culture has traditionally aligned feminine characteristics with nature while masculine characteristics have been aligned with civilisation. However, far from the more clear-cut representation of this dichotomy that Cameron would later explore in 'Avatar' (2009), where feminine/ nature equalled good and masculine/ civilisation equalled bad, Aliens features a more complex exploration, presenting two extremes of femininity with masculinity caught in the crossfire. With the alien queen as the monstrous mother facing off against Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) as the nurturing mother, the hyper masculine marines are at best rendered ineffective and at worst killed or used as incubators. A further complexity is added by representing the ruthless corporate interests at play in 'Aliens' as more reflective of the values of the parasitic aliens than those of most of the human characters."

- Caldwell, T. (2010). “Aliens”: Mothers, Monsters and Marines. Screen Education, (59), 125–130.

 

From the Filmmaker

 

 

From the Critic

 

"The ads for "Aliens" claim that this movie will frighten you as few movies have, and, for once, the ads don't lie. The movie is so intense that it creates a problem for me as a reviewer: Do I praise its craftsmanship, or do I tell you it left me feeling wrung out and unhappy? It has been a week since I saw it, so the emotions have faded a little, leaving with me an appreciation of the movie's technical qualities. But when I walked out of the theater, there were knots in my stomach from the film's roller-coaster ride of violence. This is not the kind of movie where it means anything to say you "enjoyed" it.

 

"Aliens" is absolutely, painfully and unremittingly intense for at least its last hour. Weaver goes into battle to save her colleagues, herself and the little girl, and the aliens drop from the ceiling, pop up out of the floor and crawl out of the ventilation shafts. (In one of the movie's less plausible moments, one alien even seems to know how to work the elevator buttons.) I have never seen a movie that maintains such a pitch of intensity for so long; it's like being on some kind of hair-raising carnival ride that never stops." - Roger Ebert 1986

 

From the Public

 

"This is Cameron's best film and I don't think you can make a better movie. This is the pinnacle of film making. Script, cast, acting, directing, music, cinematography, it's just brilliance personified." - @baumer

 

"Probably one of the most influential sci-fi pieces of fiction of the past 50 years. So many contemporary sci-fi novels, comics, films, and video games have nods to or have elements lifted from this film."' - @4815162342

 

 

Factoids

 

Previous Year's Rankings

2012 - #54, 2013 - #36, 2014 - #72, 2016 - #79, 2018 - #37, 2020 - #32, 2022 – #69

 

Director Count

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

 

Decade Count

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

 

International Film Count

France (2), Japan (2), Italy (1)

 

Franchise Count

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

 

Genre Count

Comedy (3), Historical Fiction (3), Horror (3), Musical (3), Noir (2), Thriller (2), Tragedy (2), Action (1), Adventure (1), Animation (1), Coming of Age (1), Jidaigeki (1), Sci-Fi (1), Western (1)

 

 

A Recipe

 

Red Pepper Quiche with Sausage Chestburster from Alien: The Official Cookbook

 

 

 

 

[4815162342]

24 minutes ago, The Panda said:

Number 87

 

 

"We're on an express elevator to hell, going down!"

 

Synopsis

 

"Ripley, the sole survivor of the Nostromo's deadly encounter with the monstrous Alien, returns to Earth after drifting through space in hypersleep for 57 years. Although her story is initially met with skepticism, she agrees to accompany a team of Colonial Marines back to LV-426." - The Movie Database

 

 

From the Scholar

 

"James Cameron's 1986 film 'Aliens' contains a fascinating exploration of the way Western culture has traditionally aligned feminine characteristics with nature while masculine characteristics have been aligned with civilisation. However, far from the more clear-cut representation of this dichotomy that Cameron would later explore in 'Avatar' (2009), where feminine/ nature equalled good and masculine/ civilisation equalled bad, Aliens features a more complex exploration, presenting two extremes of femininity with masculinity caught in the crossfire. With the alien queen as the monstrous mother facing off against Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) as the nurturing mother, the hyper masculine marines are at best rendered ineffective and at worst killed or used as incubators. A further complexity is added by representing the ruthless corporate interests at play in 'Aliens' as more reflective of the values of the parasitic aliens than those of most of the human characters."

- Caldwell, T. (2010). “Aliens”: Mothers, Monsters and Marines. Screen Education, (59), 125–130.

 

From the Filmmaker

 

 

From the Critic

 

"The ads for "Aliens" claim that this movie will frighten you as few movies have, and, for once, the ads don't lie. The movie is so intense that it creates a problem for me as a reviewer: Do I praise its craftsmanship, or do I tell you it left me feeling wrung out and unhappy? It has been a week since I saw it, so the emotions have faded a little, leaving with me an appreciation of the movie's technical qualities. But when I walked out of the theater, there were knots in my stomach from the film's roller-coaster ride of violence. This is not the kind of movie where it means anything to say you "enjoyed" it.

 

"Aliens" is absolutely, painfully and unremittingly intense for at least its last hour. Weaver goes into battle to save her colleagues, herself and the little girl, and the aliens drop from the ceiling, pop up out of the floor and crawl out of the ventilation shafts. (In one of the movie's less plausible moments, one alien even seems to know how to work the elevator buttons.) I have never seen a movie that maintains such a pitch of intensity for so long; it's like being on some kind of hair-raising carnival ride that never stops." - Roger Ebert 1986

 

From the Public

 

"This is Cameron's best film and I don't think you can make a better movie. This is the pinnacle of film making. Script, cast, acting, directing, music, cinematography, it's just brilliance personified." - @baumer

 

"Probably one of the most influential sci-fi pieces of fiction of the past 50 years. So many contemporary sci-fi novels, comics, films, and video games have nods to or have elements lifted from this film."' - @4815162342

 

 

Factoids

 

Previous Year's Rankings

2012 - #54, 2013 - #36, 2014 - #72, 2016 - #79, 2018 - #37, 2020 - #32, 2022 – #69

 

Director Count

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

 

Decade Count

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

 

International Film Count

France (2), Japan (2), Italy (1)

 

Franchise Count

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

 

Genre Count

Comedy (3), Historical Fiction (3), Horror (3), Musical (3), Noir (2), Thriller (2), Tragedy (2), Action (1), Adventure (1), Animation (1), Coming of Age (1), Jidaigeki (1), Sci-Fi (1), Western (1)

 

 

A Recipe

 

Red Pepper Quiche with Sausage Chestburster from Alien: The Official Cookbook

 

 

 

 

 

I say we take off and nuke this forum from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

[Avatree]

22 hours ago, The Panda said:

Number 93

 

 

"I see dead people."

 

Synopsis and From the Scholar

 

"For the initiated, the basic plot is unforgettable: A dashing young psychoanalyst (let’s call him M) is reaching the height of his career. Recognized for his brilliance and dedication, M receives adoration verging on celebrity—not least by an important woman in his life (let’s call her Anna). But then the doctor discovers a shocking surprise just outside Anna’s bedroom. M’s life now comes crashing down around him as he sacrifices everything, including his relationship with Anna, to seek the truth: What did plague severely disturbed patients seeking psychoanalytic help? After poring over cases from the archive, M has an astonishing revelation: suffering neurotic patients, with their ghastly tales of violence and abuse, had been haunted not by mere fantasies but by real people. Worse, the devoted doctor famous for healing troubled patients had in fact failed them utterly. The story, notoriously, ends with the abrupt termination of the analyst.

 

The above sketches the dramatic rise and precipitous fall of Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, the rebel psychoanalyst who in the 1970s had assumed the prestigious directorship of the Sigmund Freud Archives, a priceless collection of documents related to the founding of psychoanalysis. Freud’s daughter, Anna, had given the charming Masson unprecedented access to her father’s correspondence. “In a large black cupboard outside Anna Freud’s bedroom” (xiv), Masson reports, he found letters indicating that Freud’s early patients had been sexually abused as children. This revelation flew in the face of Freudian dogma—unquestioningly supported by Anna Freud and the psychoanalytic establishment—that neurotic patients did not remember childhood sexual abuse but merely fantasized such encounters. Psychoanalysis, Masson maintained, was built on this false foundation, including key concepts such as the psychical
importance of fantasy, infantile sexuality, and the Oedipus complex. Masson published The Assault on Truth: Freud’s Suppression of the Seduction Theory, which argued that Freud’s early patients were actually abused in childhood; not surprisingly, he was fired from the Archives, shunned by Anna Freud, and reviled by the psychoanalytic establishment

 

The plot sketched above also presents a fair précis of M. Night Shyamalan’s The Sixth Sense (1999), suggesting a deep plausibility in critics’ tendency to read the film in psychoanalytic terms.1  The film, after all, centers on a psychoanalyst, who (like the viewer) initially traces a young boy’s psychic troubles to his father’s desertion. Yet critics have tended to use psychoanalytic theory as an interpretive key, rather than examining how The Sixth Sense both invokes and offers a highly contemporary corrective to Freud’s psychic system. The film, as I discuss in this chapter, echoes the crusade of Jeffrey M. Masson to bring to light the actual sexual abuse suffered by Freud’s early patients. When Cole (Haley Joel Osment) says “I see dead people,” it is neither fantasy nor mere metaphor. The movie’s essential plot point turns on the boy’s convincing his therapist
that he means literally what he says."

- Thrailkill, J.F. (2010). Sigmund Freud, Pedophile Priests, and Shyamalan’s Filmic Fairy Tale (The Sixth Sense). In: Weinstock, J.A. (eds) Critical Approaches to the Films of M. Night Shyamalan. Palgrave Macmillan, New York.

 

From the Filmmaker

 

 

From the Critic

 

"This is an entrancing film, which dabbles in profound character revelation and the paranormal – something you don't often see in a movie. And the 11-year-old Osment evokes the boy's terror and awful predicament so memorably, you'll never forget him. It's a great pleasure, too, to watch Willis playing a restrained role, without the usual torn T-shirt, smirky quips and battery of firearms. Heroism in this story takes an entirely different set of reflexes.

 

Ultimately, my greatest praise goes to Shyamalan, whose previous credits include his low-budget 1992 debut, "Praying With Anger" and the 1997 "Wide Awake." His direction is superb, and the writing wonderfully mystical. And just when you're feeling spooked, there's always a little room for passing humor. At one point, Cole explains to Malcolm that his teachers at school became aware that he was a special child when he drew a picture of a man being stabbed in the neck by a screwdriver. "Everyone got upset. They had a meeting," says the boy. "I don't draw like that anymore.""

- Desson Howe, The Washington Post

 

From the Public

 

"Shyamalan made a horrifying film about death. But not because of the concept itself, but rather the repercussions death could have at the wrong circumstances. This man is asking people to improve themselves, fight for what they believe in and fix the problems caused by them and others surrounding them. All the while, tied into a film that's chilling, adventurous, methodical, breakneck, funny, scary, and heartfelt. I considered The Sixth Sense my favorite movie of all time about a year or so ago, and this rewatch has more than solidified that fact. There's really nothing else like it in terms of direction, story, and especially themes for me, and it will be something I will forever cherish." - @Eric

 

 

Factoids

 

Previous Year's Rankings

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

 

Director Count

C.T. Dreyer (1), M. Forman (1), W. Friedkin (1), M. Kobayashi (1), A. Kurosawa (1), S. Leone (1), L. McCarey (1), M. N. Shyamalan (1)

 

Decade Count

1960s (2), 1920s (1), 1930s (1), 1950s (1), 1970s (1), 1980s (1), 1990s (1)

 

International Film Count

Japan (2), France (1), Italy (1)

 

Franchise Count

Exorcist (1), Man With No Name (1)

 

 

A Recipe

Zombie Eye Meatballs (for seeing dead people)

 

Ingredientns

1 (8-oz) package Spaghetti
½ cup Parmesan cheese 
⅓ cup Panko bread crumbs
1 Large eggs
2 cloves Garlic 
1 tsp Parsley 
1 tsp Dried basil
1 tsp Dried oregano
1 lb Lean ground beef
1 tbsp Olive oil
8 Black olives 
1 (1-oz) stick String cheese 
1 (16-oz) jar Spaghetti sauce
 

Steps

1. Cook Spaghetti

2. Heat Oven to 400

3. In a large mixing bowl, mix together ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese, ⅓ cup panko bread crumbs, 1 large egg, 2 minced cloves garlic, 1 teaspoon chopped parsley, 1 teaspoon dried basil, and 1 teaspoon dried oregano. Fold in 1 pound ground beef and mix with hands until blended.

4. Using a cookie scoop, form 16 equal-sized meatballs.

5. Place the meatballs in an even layer on a baking sheet.

6. Bake the meatballs for 15 minutes. Once baked, remove from the oven and leave to cool until safe to handle.

7. Meanwhile, use a straw to punch a hole through each olive half and the center of each string cheese slice. Insert the round olive piece inside the hole in the string cheese slice for the eyes.

8. Twirl a few strands of cooked spaghetti around each of 16 forks and spear a meatball onto each fork. Arrange on a serving platter. Spoon some spaghetti sauce onto the center of each meatball. Place the olive-cheese eye over the sauce. Spoon the remaining sauce over the spaghetti.

9. Serve

 

 

From: https://cook.me/recipe/zombie-eyes-halloween-meatballs/

 

 

 

I'm seeing The Sixth Sense on Monday and I'm looking forward to it because I don't know what the twist is. I just know it's famous for its twist.

[The Panda]

Number 86

 

 

"Tears on the mausoleum floor. Blood stains on the Colosseum door."

 

Synopsis

 

"In the year 180, the death of emperor Marcus Aurelius throws the Roman Empire into chaos. Maximus is one of the Roman army’s most capable and trusted generals and a key advisor to the emperor. As Marcus’ devious son Commodus ascends to the throne, Maximus is set to be executed. He escapes, but is captured by slave traders. Renamed Spaniard and forced to become a gladiator, Maximus must battle to the death with other men for the amusement of paying audiences." - Letterboxd

 

 

From the Scholar

 

"In this tricky moment of neo-liberal globalization, when US domination has
taken on a guise of post-historical innocence and a kind of ‘post-totalitarian
fascism is thriving under the capacious carapace of global capitalism’, one has
to wonder if Gladiator was not, implicitly, so much a representation of the
Roman Empire but a blasted allegorization of the Pax Americana itself in its
neo-liberal mode of moral innocence, global ratification, and soft hegemony.4
As John Gray has phrased the terms of this Pax Americana, in the context of
his worrying over US ‘unilateralism’ and roll-back from European and Middle
Eastern intervention, ‘The United States is the world’s only truly global power,
its hegemony more complete than any in modern history’.5 Even an ex-hawk
Asianist, Chalmers Johnson, has belatedly castigated this post-Cold War edifice
of ‘informal [or, better said, disavowed] empire’ he helped to build and now
warns of the looming consequences of sporadic ‘blowback’ and interconnected
if spatially dispersed violence on the peripheries. The US superpower, says
Johnson, has created ‘an empire based on the projection of military power to
every corner of the globe and on the use of American capital and markets to
force global economic integration on our terms, whatever costs to others’.6
Surely, ‘imperialist globalization’ and the ideology of neo-liberalism that props
it up in more sublimated forms of discourse and grand spectactorship are
meeting with, if not generating from within the metabolism of global capital
itself, diverse surges of resistance. 

 

But Empire, in today’s looser regime of US postmodern globalization, does
not just repeat the sovereign state forms, disciplined labour, military apparatus,

and binary identity politics of modern land-bound or nation-centredimperialism.

In the multitudinous vision of Hardt and Negri, for whom the mass media and Internet would create

new modes and more fluid zones of rhizomatic agency and indeterminate arousal,

the emergent empire of neoliberal capitalism stands for ‘a fundamentally new form of rule’ (Empire, 146).

This Empire of global capitalism paradoxically feeds upon the proliferation of

difference and the warped and mongrel becoming of deterritorialized,
hybrid, multiple and decentred flows. Gladiator, too, would arise, intersect
and finally capture this transnational flow. Hence, a key problem of this
Empire is managing multiculturalism at home (inside existing nation-state
frames) and on the peripheries abroad (at the transnational borders of
mongrel plenitude). The plot aims to show Russell Crowe as the ‘man who
defied an Empire’ (as the global ad campaign for the movie claims), but it
shows instead a hero who ratifies an empire""

- Rob Wilson. European Journal of American Culture, Volume 21, Issue 2, Jul 2002, p. 62 - 73

 

From the Filmmaker

 

 

 

From the Critic

 

"From its opening frames of hand-to-hand butchery and unblinking conflict, Gladiator simply grabs you by the balls and never lets go. This is visceral film-making at its finest, painted on the grandest of canvases, and yet, one which maintains the finest eye for detail. It is, in short, an awesome achievement. Boasting a cast of thousands, remarkable digital effects, and a gripping saga of revenge, its ultimate success nevertheless boils down to the work of two men.

 

For Ridley Scott, Gladiator is a return to form after spending the better part of a decade wandering in a post-Thelma&Louise wasteland (GI Jane: why, Ridley, why?). Here he takes a genre which was on life support for 40-odd years and pounds it back into glorious existence. True, Scott is little concerned with historical accuracy and will be hammered for the film's multiple transgressions. But like Kubrick's schizophrenic Spartacus - - Gladiator's closest screen relative - - it's also a work which will triumphantly stand the test of time. The atmospherics are so strong that you can almost smell the sweat pouring from the Colosseum as Crowe battles man and beast for the entertainment of the Roman masses."

- Total Film

 

From the Public

 

"It could be a little melodramatic with it's writing and delivery (what does this movie think it is sometimes, a Shakespearean play?) but it's frankly amazing nonetheless. The action remains flawless, there's a lot of tension throughout the movie, and it's able to really make all of the major characters work on an emotional level.

 

The movie of course had a point beyond the action: it tried to answer the metaphysical question of what Rome was. Was it just a mob of people dictating where the leaders go? Or was it more, a vision of greatness? What is that vision? Ultimately, the movie was about the competing definitions of what Rome was which is what allows it to have some depth." - @Water Bottle

 

 

Factoids

 

Previous Year's Rankings

2012 - #59, 2013 - #66, 2014 - Unranked, 2016 - Unranked, 2018 - #38, 2020 - Unranked, 2022 – #65

 

Director Count

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

 

Decade Count

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

 

International Film Count

France (2), Japan (2), Italy (1)

 

Franchise Count

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

 

Genre Count

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

 

 

A Recipe

 

Mediterranean roasted vegetables and barley (aka the Gladiator's diet)

 

Ingregients

1 cup/163 g dry pearl barley, washed
water
2 whole zucchini squash, diced
1 red bell pepper, cored, diced
1 yellow bell pepper, cored, diced
1 medium red onion, diced
salt and pepper
2  teaspoons harissa spice or baharat, divided
3/4 tsp/ 1.95 g smoked paprika, divided
Early Harvest Greek extra virgin olive oil
2 scallions (green onions), trimmed and chopped (both whites and greens)
1 garlic clove, minced
2 oz / 56 g chopped fresh parsley
2 tbsp/30 ml fresh squeezed lemon juice
Feta cheese, to taste (optional)
Toasted pine nuts, to taste (optional)

 

Instructions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Place pearl barley and 2 1/2 cups water in a sauce pan. Bring to a boil, then turn heat down to low. Cover and cook anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes or until the barley is cooked through (should be tender but maintains some chew.)

While barley is cooking, place diced vegetables (zucchini, bell peppers, and red onion) on a large baking sheet. Season with salt, pepper, 1 1/2 tsp harissa spice, and 1/2 tsp smoked paprika. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil. Toss to coat. Spread evenly in one layer on the baking sheet. Roast in heated oven for 25 minutes or so.

When barley is ready, drain any excess water. Season with salt, pepper, 1/2 tsp harissa spice and 1/4 tsp smoked paprika. Toss to combine.

Transfer cooked barley to a large mixing bowl.  Add roasted veggies. Add chopped scallions, garlic, and fresh parsley. Dress with lemon juice and a good drizzle of Early Harvest extra virgin olive oil. Toss. If you like, top with crumbled feta and toasted pine nuts.

Serve warm, at room temperature, or cold! Enjoy.

 

From: https://www.themediterraneandish.com/roasted-vegetables-barley-recipe/

 

 

 

[DAR]

8 minutes ago, 4815162342 said:

 

I say we take off and nuke this forum from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

To paraphrase a quote from this movie I did my part.

[The Panda]

 

221.    Touch of Evil (dir. Orson Welles, 1958)
222.    Tenet (dir. Christopher Nolan, 2020)
223.    The Sound of Music (dir. Robert Wise, 1965)
224.    Good Will Hunting (dir. Gus Van Sant, 1997)
225.    Castle in the Sky (dir. Hayao Miyazaki, 1986)
 

[cannastop]

4 minutes ago, The Panda said:

225.    Castle in the Sky (dir. Hayao Miyazaki, 1986)

hell yeah. Must be the first time in the top 250.

[The Panda]

Number 85

 

 

"There's a cure for everything except death."

 

Synopsis

 

"Hailed around the world as one of the greatest movies ever made, the Academy Award–winning Bicycle Thieves, directed by Vittorio De Sica, defined an era in cinema. In poverty-stricken postwar Rome, a man is on his first day of a new job that offers hope of salvation for his desperate family when his bicycle, which he needs for work, is stolen. With his young son in tow, he sets off to track down the thief. Simple in construction and profoundly rich in human insight, Bicycle Thieves embodies the greatest strengths of the Italian neorealist movement: emotional clarity, social rectitude, and brutal honesty." - The Criterion Collection

 

 

From the Scholar

 

" Neorealism was a powerful and important movement in filmmaking which took place in Italy at the end of World War II. Roberto Rossel lini, Luchino Visconti, and the team of director Vittorio DeSica and writer Cesare Zavattini were its originators. Neorealism's basis of strength is the documentary quality inherent in film. That moments of real life caught and held for inspection can fascinate an audience was known as early as the Lumiere brothers; some critics, such as Siegfried Kracauer and Andre Bazin, argue that this realistic quality continues to be the main appeal of films. The neorealists used this appeal. They knew that Italy in the war and immediately afterward exposed the individual to situations that needed to be changed, or exposed him to situations that brought out the best and worst in him. They wanted to show the individual in such situations straightforwardly and con vincingly. They did not, however, choose to make actual documentaries; instead, they chose to tell their narratives in a documentary way.

 

 This documentary way involves both the kind of subject matter se lected to be filmed and the technique used for filming. The neorealist films were always about ordinary men, not glamorous heroes. The characters were always shown in the context of their social, economic, and/or political circumstances, and they were always shown at some  particularly revealing moment of stress. Writing when the neorealist movement was almost over, Cesare Zavattini said the neorealist ignores plot and concentrates on character and theme. Plot, he felt, distorts the truth about people. Certainly the story line of Bicycle Thieves is simplicity itself. The character of Ricci is the focus of the movie, but we are interested strongly in what will happen next in the movie's sequence of events, and that is a plot interest. Other neorealist films (e.g., Rome, Open City) depend more heavily still on plot interest. Zavattini's pronouncement, then, cannot be accepted without reservation, but his general stress on the importance of character and theme over intricacies of plot holds true in most neorealist films."

- Stubbs, John C. "Bicycle Thieves." Journal of Aesthetic Education 9, no. 2 (1975): 50-61.

 

From the Filmmaker

 

Radio Archive: Interviewing Vittorio de Sica

 

https://studsterkel.wfmt.com/programs/interviewing-vittorio-de-sica-while-studs-was-rome-italy

 

 

From the Critic

 

"Neorealism was partly an aesthetic of necessity. Right after the war, money and equipment were in short supply, and the vast Cinecittà studio complex on the southern edge of Rome was a refugee camp. Cinecittà had been built by Mussolini as one monumental expression of his belief in the natural affinity between fascism and film. (The Venice Film Festival was another.) The leading lights of neorealism — including De Sica, a prominent actor before he took up directing — had started out working in Mussolini’s movie industry, which specialized in slick melodramas and high-society romances as well as propaganda.

 

While it is free of those genre trappings, “Bicycle Thieves” has a sometimes playful, sometimes poetic self-consciousness. The first work we see Antonio doing is hanging up a poster of Rita Hayworth, a sign that Hollywood is part of the Italian landscape. Within a few years, the import and export of movie stars would become a fixture of Italy’s cultural and economic boom. Fellini’s “La Strada” and “Nights of Cabiria” won back-to-back foreign-language film Oscars in 1957 and ’58. Anna Magnani had won for best actress in 1956. Six years later it was Sophia Loren’s turn, for “Two Women,” directed by De Sica, who had perhaps done more than anyone other than Loren herself to cultivate her star power and unlock her artistic potential.

 

“Bicycle Thieves” may seem like an improbable gateway to the glamorous golden age of Italian cinema, the starry, sexy cosmos of Loren, Gina Lollobrigida and “La Dolce Vita,” but sensuality and spectacle are hardly alien to the neorealist universe. The struggle for survival doesn’t exclude the pursuit of pleasure. Even as Antonio and Bruno encounter disappointment, indifference and cruelty, they also find glimmers of beauty and delight. Seeking help from a sanitation-worker friend in their search for the Fides, Antonio finds the man at the neighborhood cultural center, rehearsing a musical sketch for a revue. Later, Antonio and Bruno will cross paths with itinerant musicians, a fortuneteller, and a young man blowing bubbles in an open-air bicycle market. They will duck into a restaurant for a snack of fried mozzarella, enduring the condescending stares of the rich patrons at the next table."

- A. O. Scott, The New York Times

 

From the Public

 

"I stole a bicycle once. I tried explaining to the cops that I was merely paying homage to post-war Italian neorealism." - CinemaVoid, Letterboxd

 

 

Factoids

 

Previous Year's Rankings

2012 - Unranked, 2013 - Unranked, 2014 - Unranked, 2016 - Unranked, 2018 - Unranked, 2020 - Unranked, 2022 – #93

 

Director Count

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

 

Decade Count

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

 

International Film Count

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

 

Franchise Count

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

 

Genre Count

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

 

 

A Recipe

Mozzarella en Carrozza

 

Ingredients

1 ball fresh mozzarella

4 slices white bread, crusts trimmed

2 large eggs, beaten, or more as needed

1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic

1 heaping teaspoon minced fresh flat-leaf parsley

Salt and pepper

Plain bread crumbs, as needed

Olive oil, for frying

Quick Marinara Sauce, recipe follows
Quick Marinara Sauce:

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 clove garlic, minced

1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes

Pinch sugar

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil leaves

1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

 

Directions
Cut the mozzarella into enough 1/4-inch thick slices to cover 2 slices of the bread. Reserve the remaining mozzarella for another use. Top the cheese with the remaining 2 slices of bread, to make 2 sandwiches, and press down to compact.
In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, garlic, and parsley and season with salt and pepper. Put the bread crumbs on a plate.
In a large skillet over medium-high heat, pour the in oil to a depth of 1/4-inch. When the oil is hot, dip each sandwich into the egg mixture, dredge in the bread crumbs, and fry, turning once, until crisp and the cheese has melted.
Cut each sandwich in 1/2 and serve, while still hot, with the marinara sauce on the side for dipping.

Quick Marinara Sauce:
Yield: about 3 cups
Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant. Add the tomatoes and sugar and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer for 30 minutes.
Remove the sauce from the heat and stir in the basil and parsley.

 

From: https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/mozzarella-en-carrozza-recipe-2041936

 

 

As a fun extra, here is an excerpt from an article on the significance of Mozzarella en Carrozza in the Bicycle Thieves.

 

"The search for the stolen bicycle with his son Bruno in tow (Enzo Stajola) is interrupted only for him, for the child who at every step of this exhausting exploration loses a pinch of his childhood, and who deserves a moment of serenity in a trattoria. Bruno is enchanted by the table set behind him, so Antonio offers him a mozzarella in carrozza: or rather two, and a bottle of wine, to share with his son, "If Mom saw that I make you drink... but we do whatever we want", to redeem once again the right to joy, conviviality, life). The child's gaze is priceless when the mozzarella sandwich arrives, heartbreaking the way he continues to turn to observe the wealthy family receiving other dishes. Never before in this scene has food become a symbol of freedom, but also entertainment, distraction, an outlet to cope with suffering: "Go on, eat, don't think about it". And father and son eat, united again and for a moment, a single moment they are carefree. "Do you like it?" Complicit smiles, big mouthfuls. A short and festive episode told without the ordinary grace. A mozzarella in carrozza and a drop of wine to take a break from that miserable existence, which however enters forcefully into every fragment of the scene." - Michela Bezzi, https://www.gamberorossointernational.com/news/food-news/food-and-cinema-mozzarella-in-carrozza-in-bicycle-thieves-and-post-war-italy/

 

 

[The Panda]

Number 84

 

 

"This is why we’re here: Unobtanium. This little grey rock sells for 20 million a kilo."

 

Synopsis

 

"From Academy Award® winning director James Cameron comes “Avatar,” set in the year 2154, in which former Marine Jake Sully is recruited for a mission on Pandora, a distant moon where a corporate consortium is mining a rare mineral that is key to solving Earth’s energy crisis. To exist on Pandora, Jake must be reborn as an avatar, a remotely controlled biological body that can survive in the lethal air. After Neytiri, a female member of the Na’vi, the indigenous clan he was sent to infiltrate, saves Jake’s life, he finds himself drawn to the Na’vi’s ways. Soon, Jake becomes embroiled in a clash of civilizations and faces the ultimate test in a monumental battle that will decide the fate of an entire world." - The Avatar Website

 

 

From the Scholar

 

"Something, something, I predict there will be a recession which will induce favourable exchange rates and allow Avatar 2 to make 3, maybe even 4 billies. You are an idiot if you disagree with me." - The former BOT member, JamesCameronFilmScholar

 

From the Filmmaker

 

 

From the Critic

 

"In 2009, James Cameron released Avatar, a sci-fi adventure that revolutionized the cinema industry by offering the most realistic digital world ever created. At that point, Cameron had already pushed practical effects to its limits with Titanic, another box office giant still holding strong as one of the most successful films of all time. But with Avatar, he proved that it was possible to develop a movie almost entirely inside a computer and still make it look real. Since then, Hollywood has been trying– and mostly failing–to mimic Cameron’s digital magic. However, after thirteen years, can Avatar still amaze us? After all, technology evolved so much that the movie cannot remain as beautiful as we remembered it, right? Lastly, is it worth spending our hard-earned money on an expensive 3D ticket? Well, unfortunately for your wallet, the 4K remastered version of Avatar is well worth another trip to theaters, especially for the lucky people who can catch it on IMAX 3D.

 

There’s no question that Avatar’s stunning digital world and immersive 3D technology helped to boost the original box office beyond Hollywood’s wildest dreams. Avatar eventually became the highest-grossing film ever at the time of its release, and the film remains near the top of all-time box office earners. It’s no wonder that after Avatar’s release, many big blockbuster titles were distributed in 3D, as big studios tried to make money with the new technology. However, no other movie ever got close to reproducing what Cameron did. That’s mainly because the filmmaker took a long time to make sure Avatar would look as he wanted it to, instead of rushing the post-production and release. So, with an improved image and sound quality, Pandora never looked so good, and the alien planet is ready to suck you again into a world of wonder and mystery."

- Marco Vito Oddo, Collider

 

 

From the Public

 

"Every few months some dork looking for easy Film Twitter clout with parrot the same tired canned critique about how the protagonist of Avatar is so unmemorable "you can't even remember the main character's name!" Yet on this rewatch nothing stuck out to me more than the transformation of Jake Sully from a demoralized low-level Marine grunt desperately searching for purpose and fulfillment to a fully self-actualized new being, the leader of a rebellion against the same forces of destructive capitalistic greed that brought his original "dying world" to the brink. It's both a great subversion of the "white savior" narrative Avatar is so often accused of being, where the protagonist literally decolonizes his own body and needs to ultimately give up his whiteness, and one of the most compelling, romantic arcs of Cameron's filmography, in a career already defined by impeccably marrying jaw-dropping action with character. Nothing feels more brutal and crushing than every cut in this movie from Jake's liberating experiences as a Na'vi in the lush, colorful and richly detailed world of Pandora back to his human body: stuck in the flat, sterile and textureless digital images of spaces dominated by humans. A liberated spirit jolted awake from a dreamworld back into crushing reality. "Sooner or later though, we always have to wake up."" - The Sound of Silver, Letterboxd

 

 

Factoids

 

Previous Year's Rankings

2012 - #43, 2013 - Unranked, 2014 - Unranked, 2016 - Unranked, 2018 - #88, 2020 - Unranked, 2022 – #92

 

Director Count

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

 

Decade Count

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

 

International Film Count

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

 

Franchise Count

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

 

Genre Count

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

 

 

A Recipe

 

Satu'li Grilled Canteen Chicken Bowls (recipe for the Disney World dish served in Avatar land)

 

Ingredients

20 ounces lo mein noodles
▢1 tablespoon olive oil
▢12 tablespoons juicy popping boba balls, for garnish

 

Grilled Canteen Chicken
▢2 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs or breasts
▢¼ cup canola oil
▢3 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
▢3 Tablespoons minced fresh garlic
▢kosher salt and pepper, to taste

Crunchy Slaw
▢1 cup matchstick carrots
▢1 cup shredded cabbage
▢3 tablespoons olive oil
▢3 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
▢kosher salt and pepper, to taste
Creamy Herb Dressing
▢1 cup mayonnaise
▢¼ cup water
▢¼ cup lemon juice
▢¼ teaspoon ground sumac (see notes above)
▢¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
▢⅛ teaspoon ground turmeric
▢kosher salt and pepper, to taste

 

Grilled Chicken

Place chicken thighs in a large resealable plastic bag. In a small mixing bowl, whisk together all remaining chicken ingredients. Pour the mixture over the chicken and seal the bag, pressing out as much air as you can. Marinate in the refrigerator overnight.

 

Remove the chicken from the bag and discard the excess marinade. Grill over medium heat until chicken is completely cooked through, reaching a temperature of 165 degrees F. Remove from the grill and cover with foil. Allow to rest for 10-15 minutes.

 

Cut chicken into cubes and serve over satu'li bowls.
 

Crunchy Slaw

Place the shredded carrot and shredded cabbage in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Set aside.

 

In a small mixing bowl, whisk together oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper. Toss the mixture with the carrot-cabbage mixture until well coated.

 

Serve immediately over the satu'li bowls.

 

Creamy Herb Dressing

Combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor. Pulse or blend until well combined. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

 

Note: When you first make the dressing it will have no color to it. After it sets you will notice the natural color from the spices will make it look light green, just like in the park.
 

Assembly

Cook lo mein noodles according to package directions. Drain well and allow to cool. Toss in olive oil and refrigerate until ready to eat. You can serve the lo mein noodles warm, but they are served cold at Disney's Animal Kingdom.

 

Divide lo mein noodles among 6 pasta-sized bowls.

 

Add about ½ cup beef and ½ cup chicken to each bowl, or just divide evenly. Add slaw to each bowl and top each with about 2 tablespoons of boba balls.

 

Serve with ¼ cup creamy herb dressing per bowl.

 

 

 

[ListenHunnyUrOver]

22 minutes ago, The Panda said:

Number 84

 

 

"This is why we’re here: Unobtanium. This little grey rock sells for 20 million a kilo."

 

Synopsis

 

"From Academy Award® winning director James Cameron comes “Avatar,” set in the year 2154, in which former Marine Jake Sully is recruited for a mission on Pandora, a distant moon where a corporate consortium is mining a rare mineral that is key to solving Earth’s energy crisis. To exist on Pandora, Jake must be reborn as an avatar, a remotely controlled biological body that can survive in the lethal air. After Neytiri, a female member of the Na’vi, the indigenous clan he was sent to infiltrate, saves Jake’s life, he finds himself drawn to the Na’vi’s ways. Soon, Jake becomes embroiled in a clash of civilizations and faces the ultimate test in a monumental battle that will decide the fate of an entire world." - The Avatar Website

 

 

From the Scholar

 

"Something, something, I predict there will be a recession which will induce favourable exchange rates and allow Avatar 2 to make 3, maybe even 4 billies. You are an idiot if you disagree with me." - The former BOT member, JamesCameronFilmScholar

 

From the Filmmaker

 

 

From the Critic

 

"In 2009, James Cameron released Avatar, a sci-fi adventure that revolutionized the cinema industry by offering the most realistic digital world ever created. At that point, Cameron had already pushed practical effects to its limits with Titanic, another box office giant still holding strong as one of the most successful films of all time. But with Avatar, he proved that it was possible to develop a movie almost entirely inside a computer and still make it look real. Since then, Hollywood has been trying– and mostly failing–to mimic Cameron’s digital magic. However, after thirteen years, can Avatar still amaze us? After all, technology evolved so much that the movie cannot remain as beautiful as we remembered it, right? Lastly, is it worth spending our hard-earned money on an expensive 3D ticket? Well, unfortunately for your wallet, the 4K remastered version of Avatar is well worth another trip to theaters, especially for the lucky people who can catch it on IMAX 3D.

 

There’s no question that Avatar’s stunning digital world and immersive 3D technology helped to boost the original box office beyond Hollywood’s wildest dreams. Avatar eventually became the highest-grossing film ever at the time of its release, and the film remains near the top of all-time box office earners. It’s no wonder that after Avatar’s release, many big blockbuster titles were distributed in 3D, as big studios tried to make money with the new technology. However, no other movie ever got close to reproducing what Cameron did. That’s mainly because the filmmaker took a long time to make sure Avatar would look as he wanted it to, instead of rushing the post-production and release. So, with an improved image and sound quality, Pandora never looked so good, and the alien planet is ready to suck you again into a world of wonder and mystery."

- Marco Vito Oddo, Collider

 

 

From the Public

 

"Every few months some dork looking for easy Film Twitter clout with parrot the same tired canned critique about how the protagonist of Avatar is so unmemorable "you can't even remember the main character's name!" Yet on this rewatch nothing stuck out to me more than the transformation of Jake Sully from a demoralized low-level Marine grunt desperately searching for purpose and fulfillment to a fully self-actualized new being, the leader of a rebellion against the same forces of destructive capitalistic greed that brought his original "dying world" to the brink. It's both a great subversion of the "white savior" narrative Avatar is so often accused of being, where the protagonist literally decolonizes his own body and needs to ultimately give up his whiteness, and one of the most compelling, romantic arcs of Cameron's filmography, in a career already defined by impeccably marrying jaw-dropping action with character. Nothing feels more brutal and crushing than every cut in this movie from Jake's liberating experiences as a Na'vi in the lush, colorful and richly detailed world of Pandora back to his human body: stuck in the flat, sterile and textureless digital images of spaces dominated by humans. A liberated spirit jolted awake from a dreamworld back into crushing reality. "Sooner or later though, we always have to wake up."" - The Sound of Silver, Letterboxd

 

 

Factoids

 

Previous Year's Rankings

2012 - #43, 2013 - Unranked, 2014 - Unranked, 2016 - Unranked, 2018 - #88, 2020 - Unranked, 2022 – #92

 

Director Count

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

 

Decade Count

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

 

International Film Count

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

 

Franchise Count

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

 

Genre Count

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

 

 

A Recipe

 

Satu'li Grilled Canteen Chicken Bowls (recipe for the Disney World dish served in Avatar land)

 

Ingredients

20 ounces lo mein noodles
▢1 tablespoon olive oil
▢12 tablespoons juicy popping boba balls, for garnish

 

Grilled Canteen Chicken
▢2 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs or breasts
▢¼ cup canola oil
▢3 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
▢3 Tablespoons minced fresh garlic
▢kosher salt and pepper, to taste

Crunchy Slaw
▢1 cup matchstick carrots
▢1 cup shredded cabbage
▢3 tablespoons olive oil
▢3 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
▢kosher salt and pepper, to taste
Creamy Herb Dressing
▢1 cup mayonnaise
▢¼ cup water
▢¼ cup lemon juice
▢¼ teaspoon ground sumac (see notes above)
▢¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
▢⅛ teaspoon ground turmeric
▢kosher salt and pepper, to taste

 

Grilled Chicken

Place chicken thighs in a large resealable plastic bag. In a small mixing bowl, whisk together all remaining chicken ingredients. Pour the mixture over the chicken and seal the bag, pressing out as much air as you can. Marinate in the refrigerator overnight.

 

Remove the chicken from the bag and discard the excess marinade. Grill over medium heat until chicken is completely cooked through, reaching a temperature of 165 degrees F. Remove from the grill and cover with foil. Allow to rest for 10-15 minutes.

 

Cut chicken into cubes and serve over satu'li bowls.
 

Crunchy Slaw

Place the shredded carrot and shredded cabbage in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Set aside.

 

In a small mixing bowl, whisk together oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper. Toss the mixture with the carrot-cabbage mixture until well coated.

 

Serve immediately over the satu'li bowls.

 

Creamy Herb Dressing

Combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor. Pulse or blend until well combined. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

 

Note: When you first make the dressing it will have no color to it. After it sets you will notice the natural color from the spices will make it look light green, just like in the park.
 

Assembly

Cook lo mein noodles according to package directions. Drain well and allow to cool. Toss in olive oil and refrigerate until ready to eat. You can serve the lo mein noodles warm, but they are served cold at Disney's Animal Kingdom.

 

Divide lo mein noodles among 6 pasta-sized bowls.

 

Add about ½ cup beef and ½ cup chicken to each bowl, or just divide evenly. Add slaw to each bowl and top each with about 2 tablespoons of boba balls.

 

Serve with ¼ cup creamy herb dressing per bowl.

 

 

 

obsessed avatar haters lost

[The Panda]

Number 83

 

 

"I would vote for Obama a third time."

 

Synopsis

 

"Chris and his girlfriend Rose go upstate to visit her parents for the weekend. At first, Chris reads the family's overly accommodating behavior as nervous attempts to deal with their daughter's interracial relationship, but as the weekend progresses, a series of increasingly disturbing discoveries lead him to a truth that he never could have imagined." - The Movie Database

 

 

From the Scholar

 

"This perspective on American race relations has emerged from re-cent writings and advocacy for reparations to African-Americans(e.g., Brooks, 2004; Coates, 2014; Nichols, 2017; Nichols & Con-nolly, 2017; Prager, 2008, 2017), and serves as the interpretiveframe for Get Out. The resistance of the United States to confront-ing its historical notions of white supremacy is what is describedhere as the unrepaired aspects of race relations. Peele takes this astep further in depicting white Americans who embrace, ratherthan resist, historical white supremacy in a conscious, unapolo-getic way, assuming that it is the natural order of things. Thisorientation is referred to as unrepentant.

 

From this perspective, the United States is viewed as a coun-try largely founded on a crime against humanity, chattel slavery,which has spent much of its collective time trying to ignore thatreality. Although efforts have been made to address this profoundcultural trauma—the Emancipation Proclamation, Constitutionalamendments during the Reconstruction era, and the civil rightslegislation of the 1960s—they have fallen short of a full reparativeact that would include both genuine governmental apology andmaterial compensation for wages, property, and the loss of life. Inthe absence of genuine reparations for a shameful and murder-ous crime against an entire segment of the population, Americanculture is left with a toxic atmosphere that divides its citizenry. Aspsychoanalyst and sociologist Prager (2008) describes it, this un-resolved cultural trauma yields “a past that bifurcates the nationand establishes (at least) two national histories—history as told bythe victims and by the perpetrators” (p. 405)."

- Nichols, Bryan K. "Get Out: A study of interracial dynamics in an unrepaired and unrepentant America—A modern day racial horror." The Psychoanalytic Review 105, no. 2 (2018): 223-236.
 

From the Filmmaker

 

 

From the Critic

 

"Chris (Daniel Kaluuya), a twentysomething photographer in an unnamed city, is heading to the suburbs with his girlfriend, Rose (Allison Williams), to meet her parents—and she hasn’t told them that Chris is black. From this premise, the writer and director Jordan Peele (of Key and Peele) develops a brilliantly satirical horror comedy that pierces the sensitive points of American race relations with surgical precision and destroys comforting illusions with radical ferocity. A pre-credit scene sets up the looming violence, though nothing seems further from the warm embrace with which Rose’s parents, Dean (Bradley Whitford), a neurosurgeon, and Missy (Catherine Keener), a psychiatrist, welcome Chris. Still, he is puzzled by the remote and ironic behavior of the family’s help, Georgina (Betty Gabriel) and Walter (Marcus Henderson), who are black. A teeming party scene reveals prosperous white folks’ genteel prejudices as well as hints that something deeper is amiss in their paradise—something like involuntary servitude—and Chris’s best friend, Rod (Lil Rel Howery), suspects trouble, even as ingenious dream sequences conjure Chris’s own forebodings. Peele’s perfectly tuned cast and deft camera work unleash his uproarious humor along with his political fury; with his first film, he’s already an American Buñuel."

- Richard Brody, The New Yorker

 

From the Public

 

"My god, what a masterpiece. I introduced my younger cousin to this movie as he was curious about Nope. He gave it a 9/10 and while it wasn’t scary, he dug it. We both agree Kayuula was robbed of Best Actor. Anyways what else can I say about this movie? It has an excellent script, Peele shows great direction in building suspense and an air of mystery and Kayuula and Howery steals the film. Perhaps my favorite movie of the 2010s and in my favorite movies." - @YM!

 

 

Factoids

 

Previous Year's Rankings

2012 - N/A, 2013 - N/A, 2014 - N/A, 2016 - N/A, 2018 - #71, 2020 - Unranked, 2022 – Unranked

 

Director Count

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

 

Decade Count

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

 

International Film Count

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

 

Franchise Count

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

 

Genre Count

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

 

 

A Recipe

Sleepy Time Poppy Flower Tea

 

 

Ingredients: 
2 parts dried skullcap leaf

1 part dried California poppy flowers

0.5 parts dried fennel seeds

0.25 parts dried stevia leaf

I usually mix together 2 cups skullcap, 1 cup poppy flowers, 1/2 cup fennel seeds, and 1/4 cup stevia leaves in a big bowl and then transfer into a glass mason jar. 

To brew tea: use 1 tsp -1Tbsp blend per 8oz of boiling hot water

 

From: https://www.herbsandhands.com/how-1/california-poppy-recipes

 

 

[The Panda]

 

216.    Speed Racer (dir. Lana and Lilly Wachowski, 2008)
217.    Eyes Wide Shut (dir. Stanley Kubrick, 1999)
218.    Stop Making Sense (dir. Jonathan Demme, 1984)
219.    3 Idiots (dir. Rajkumar Hirani, 2009)
220.    District 9 (dir. Neill Blomkamp, 2009)

[The Panda]

Number 82

 

 

"I AM NOT AN ELEPHANT! I AM NOT AN ANIMAL! I AM... A HUMAN BEING! I... AM... A... MAN!"

 

Synopsis

 

"With this poignant second feature, David Lynch brought his atmospheric visual and sonic palette to a notorious true story set in Victorian England. When the London surgeon Frederick Treves (Anthony Hopkins) meets the freak-show performer John Merrick (John Hurt), who has severe skeletal and soft-tissue deformities, he assumes that he must be intellectually disabled as well. As the two men spend more time together, though, Merrick reveals the intelligence, gentle nature, and profound sense of dignity that lie beneath his shocking appearance, and he and Treves develop a friendship. Shot in gorgeous black and white and boasting a stellar supporting cast that includes Anne Bancroft, John Gielgud, and Wendy Hiller, The Elephant Man was nominated for eight Academy Awards, cementing Lynch’s reputation as one of American cinema’s most visionary talents." - The Criterion Collection

 

 

From the Scholar

 

"David Lynch’s film The Elephant Man (1980) tells the story of Joseph Merrick (named John
Merrick in the film), a man who lived in Victorian England during the late nineteenth century
and who was known as the Elephant Man. The historical Merrick worked as a sideshow ‘freak’ 

before coming to reside at the London Hospital under the care of Dr Frederick Treves, where
he remained until his death at age 27. Lynch’s film presents Merrick’s story as a fable of human
dignity, a story about discovering the humanity that lies behind and beneath the flesh of
man and of which people with disabilities, every bit as much as people without disabilities,
are fully possessed. Seeing, staring, and looking are central concerns of the film – Lynch
depicts Merrick as continuously on display, both while working as a ‘freak’ and while living
in the hospital. In many ways, this act of looking and the relationship it engenders between
the disabled body and the non-disabled spectator becomes the central thematic concern
of the film, a point that Kenneth C. Kaleta echoes when he states that the film ‘focuses not
on what is, but on how it is seen’ (1993, 49). Both at the level of narrative and the level of
cinematic technique, Lynch explores the nature of the look in order to reveal its power to
both objectify the disabled body and, alternatively, recognize the disabled body as a site of
shared humanity.

 

 

In its focus on the extent to which looking and seeing can oppress and objectify disabled
people, The Elephant Man poses a challenge to the cultural forces of ableism. Like racism
and sexism, ableism is a cultural power structure that oppresses and dehumanizes a marginalized group of people – in this case, people with disabilities.

 

In approaching and interrogating ableism, Lynch’s film is primarily concerned with the extent to which visuality– looking at and seeing the disabled body, as well as its representation on screen – is complicit in the ableist oppression of disabled people as well as, alternatively, how we mightenvision a reformed visuality that respects the full and equal humanity of people with disabilities. Because staring can, as Rosemarie Garland-Thomson (2009, 44) terms it, ‘[stigmatize]
by designating people whose bodies or behaviors cannot be readily absorbed into the visual
status quo,’ it is important that we fight against such stigmatization and hold the visual
accountable for the extent to which it harms, oppresses, and stigmatizes people with atypical
embodiments. Ultimately, Lynch asks us as viewers to become aware of our own staring
practices and to ensure that our ways of looking and seeing do not partake  in the stigmatization that Garland-Thomson identifies, but rather recognize people with disabilities as fulland equal subjects."

- Boyd, Nolan. "The warped mirror: the reflection of the ableist stare in David Lynch’s The Elephant Man." Disability & society 31, no. 10 (2016): 1321-1332.

 

From the Filmmaker

 

 

From the Critic

 

"It has to be said that Lynch’s Elephant Man, while not exactly sentimental, takes a determinedly un-alienated attitude to Merrick’s image: rational, compassionate and very different from his approach to what might be called body-nonconformity in Eraserhead in which the keynote is clearly one of horror. There is far more empathy in The Elephant Man, especially in the moving scene in which Treves brings Carr-Gomm to see Merrick for the first time – and poor Merrick is at first hardly able to speak and then astonishes both men by reciting the 23rd Psalm from memory. It is always moving later, when Merrick asks Treves: “Can you cure me?” and, on getting a candid reply, says quietly: “I thought not …”

 

Lynch’s depiction of Victorian London is strong, because it is not fetishised or Hollywood-ised in the usual way but simply uses existing city locations (which in 1980 were still a very good match). And Lynch, with his editor Anne V Coates, subverts the usual narrative rhythm by ending a scene on a line or moment that might normally be considered a climactic point – giving the proceedings a persistent dream logic. It is while Merrick is being exhibited on the European tour that Lynch explores the idea of something other than ordinary sympathy for him, showing us him in Tod Browning-esque relationship with other circus folk and approaching a mysterious epiphany about the universe unavailable, perhaps, to other people. The two aspects of this approach may not be entirely resolved, but it is an absorbing and satisfying drama, and Hurt’s Merrick is very powerful."

- Peter Bradshaw, The Elephant Man

 

From the Public

 

"The Elephant Man, directed by David Lynch, is a stunning masterpiece. The film stars Anthony Hopkins as Frederick Treves and John Hurt as John Merrick. The Elephant Man is the most emotional movie that I have seen. I laughed, cried, smiled and was angry while watching the film. John Merrick is terrific person and it shows you that you should not judge a book by its cover. "  - @Kvikk Lunsj

 

 

Factoids

 

Previous Year's Rankings

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

 

Director Count

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

 

Decade Count

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

 

International Film Count

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

 

Franchise Count

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

 

Genre Count

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

 

 

A Recipe

Elephant Ears

 

Ingredients
▢1 ½ cups whole milk
▢3 ¼ cups all-purpose flour plus more for dusting
▢5 tablespoons granulated sugar divided
▢1 teaspoon baking powder
▢1 teaspoon fine sea salt
▢2 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
▢1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
▢Peanut oil for frying
Instructions

In a microwave-safe bowl, pour in the milk and microwave it in 15-30 second intervals until it's heated to 110°F. Set the bowl aside.

In a large mixing bowl, stir the flour, 1 tablespoon sugar, baking powder, and salt together.

Add in the butter and slowly stream in the hot milk while stirring, until a slightly sticky dough forms. Once the dough forms, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit for 10 minutes.

While the dough is sitting, in a large skillet with deep sides or a dutch oven, start heating 2-3 inches of oil.

Stir the remaining 4 tablespoons of sugar and the cinnamon together in a small bowl and set it aside.

Create a clean working surface and dust it with flour. Divide up the dough into 8 equal portions, and roll each dough portion in the flour so it is lightly coated with flour. Roll it out into a rough ¼-inch thick circle and repeat with the rest of the dough balls. Place the finished rolled-out circles between parchment paper layers until ready to fry them.

Once the oil in the skillet or dutch reaches 350°F, carefully place one Elephant Ear at a time into the hot oil and fry for 1-2 minutes on each side, or until lightly golden brown in color.

Once it's done, carefully remove it from the oil and place the fried dough on a paper-towel-lined plate to absorb any excess oil.

Place it on a wire rack over a sheet tray. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar on top of the ear immediately and repeat with the remaining dough ears. Serve and enjoy.

 

From: https://tornadoughalli.com/elephant-ears-recipe/

 

 

 

[The Panda]

Number 81

 

 

"And I suppose that is supposed to be true."

 

Synopsis

 

"A riveting psychological thriller that investigates the nature of truth and the meaning of justice, Rashomon is widely considered one of the greatest films ever made. Four people give different accounts of a man’s murder and the rape of his wife, which director Akira Kurosawa presents with striking imagery and an ingenious use of flashbacks. This eloquent masterwork and international sensation revolutionized film language and introduced Japanese cinema—and a commanding new star by the name of Toshiro Mifune—to the Western world." - The Criterion Collection

 

 

From the Scholar

 

"At the outset it is essential to say that there really are at least two Rashomon effects
arising in and from this famous film. The first Rashomon effect, usually passed over
by scholars, is the one experienced by first-time viewers of the film, surrounded by
the relentless Bolero-style music, the sound of rain falling heavily around the gate, the
bright sparkling sunlight and shade in the forest, and the sudden and subtle switches
in the stories, the power of the superb acting. This is a story grounded in twelfth-century
Japan and then filmed and completed for screening in 1950, which is a long way
back for twenty-first-century viewers. yet, in terms of technique and engagement, few

experiences lasting less than 90 minutes are as memorable. No amount of post-film
theorizing about epistemology diminishes the effect of seeing Rashomon for the first
time, an effect I have seen over and over again in susceptible and attentive audiences.

 

The second Rashomon effect is the one I am focusing on here; it is the naming of
an epistemological framework—or ways of thinking, knowing, and remembering—
required for understanding the complex and ambiguous on both the small and large
scale, in both the routines of everyday life and in its extraordinary moments. The second
Rashomon effect (sometimes written with a capital E) is probably universal in
our experience, and this adds to the globalizing and proliferating tendencies of the
term. of course, here I speak of the two effects together because they arise together,
but one should remember their distinctiveness. There is an intriguing tension between
the two, asking us how could the experience of a film on the first viewing ripple outwards
to become an experience with an accepted cognitive and cultural paradigm?

The Rashomon effect is not only about differences of perspective. It occurs particularly
where such differences arise in combination with the absence of evidence to elevate or
disqualify any version of the truth, plus the social pressure for closure on the question.
The convergence of these three ingredients is sufficient in all cases, but there are stronger
and weaker varieties of the effect—distinguished by the intensity of the interaction of
the three ingredients. It is the conjunction of these elements, and their intense interaction,
that makes up the strong cases. Through Kurosawa’s stark minimalism in the different
narratives of the events in the forest glade, audiences experience the power of the
effect in the strong convergence of these three ingredients. This fascinating combination
of elements, played through the viewers’ increasing doubt, gives the film its philosophical
and social force. But there is a spectrum at work here, from stronger cases to weaker,
and no single discipline has an exclusive claim on decoding this kind of complexity. Put
another way, with respect to one social science discipline, Heider (1988) said:

[T]here is a shared reality but differing truths may indeed be said about it.
[However,] the value of thinking about the Rashomon effect goes far beyond
the relatively few cases of ethnographic disagreement that we shall be able
to turn up. The sorts of influences, biases, or predilections we can examine
here are at work in all ethnography, even when it is unchallenged. (p. 74)"

- Anderson, Robert. "The Rashomon effect and communication." Canadian Journal of Communication 41, no. 2 (2016): 249-270.

 

From the Filmmaker

 

Not from Akira Kurosawa himself, but an interview with Robert Altman on the film:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYWQa0GExt8&ab_channel=DinukWijeratne

 

 

From the Critic

 

"The film that woke up the world to Japanese cinema, this is a still-effective 'gimmick' melodrama about a rape-murder seen from four different viewpoints, each wildly different. The abused wife, the embittered husband and the lecherous bandit all get to tell their stories - the husband speaking through a medium - and all present themselves in the best light (as brave, noble, ferocious, self-sacrificing) while doing down the others (as cowardly, grasping, lecherous, hypocritical), but finally a bystander comes along and reveals that actually everyone involved is a moral and physical coward, reducing high tragedy to black slapstick as a duel we’ve seen as an epic struggle is re-presented as a knockabout between two men too terrified to fight properly with the final death caused by an accident rather than malice or skill.

 

There's a showboat performance from Toshiro Mifune as the swaggering yet hollow bandit desperate to live up to his reputation, but it's Akira Kurosawa's direction that commands the attention as he mood ranges from the savage to the wistful to the comic. Its cynical neatness perhaps lodges it a notch down from masterpiece level, but still outstanding.

 

It was adapted for American and British television in 1960 and 1961, with Western actors playing Japanese under the direction of Sidney Lumet and Rudolph Cartier, then remade as Martin Ritt’s Western The Outrage in 1964 and the odd Bridget Fonda vehicle Iron Maze in 1991, and imitated so often as episodes of everything from The Simpsons to The X-Files that you can pitch something as ‘a Rashomon story’." - Kim Newman, Empire

 

From the Public

 

"Amazing, and one of (if not the) first examples of unreliable narrators in cinemas. It's really a profound statement about how all of us interpret our own reality and truth, based on our own ego, fears, hopes, and passions.

 

But aside from all of that, it's just a really entertaining film as well. Mifune is a standout." - @Dementeleus

 

 

Factoids

 

Previous Year's Rankings

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

 

Director Count

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

 

Decade Count

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

 

International Film Count

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

 

Franchise Count

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

 

Genre Count

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

 

 

A Recipe

 

Anarki Kleftiko, or Bandit Lamb (inspired by the dish that the cast of Rashomon invented on set, called 'Mountain Bandit Broil')

 

INGREDIENTS
4 lbs leg of lamb
12 garlic cloves, peeled
6 ounces cheese, cut in cubes (kefalotyri, pecorino)
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 lbs baking potatoes (peeled and cut in half or quarters)
3 medium carrots, cut in chunks
sea salt
fresh ground black pepper
5 sheets of parchment cooking paper
water

 

 

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 480°F

Rub the lamb with a little olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.

With a sharp knife, pierce the lamb and insert a clove of garlic and a piece of cheese into each opening. Do this until the cloves are all inserted into the lamb.

Drizzle the potatoes and carrots with any remaining oil, season to taste with salt and pepper.

On a clean work surface, spread out the parchment sheets and lay the lamb in the center, with the potatoes and carrots. If there is any remaining cheese, add as well.

Close the parchment paper and secure well, tucking the sides underneath to make a packet.

Fill a roasting pan 1/3 full of water, add the packet and cook for 2 hours 30 minutes, adding more water to the pan as needed to keep from getting dry.

When done, lift the entire packet onto a serving platter, and cut open at the table to serve.

Alternate preparation: Cut meat into serving size portions and wrap each portion, together with portion-size serving of potatoes and carrots, individually. Set side by side in roasting pan to cook, and serve one packet to each plate.

 

 

 

Edited July 24 by The Panda

[DAJK]

Starting to think Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Roderick Rules won't show up. Oh well.

[DAR]

 

[The Panda]

Number 80

 

 

"May the devil himself splatter you with dung."

 

Synopsis

 

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

 

 

From the Scholar

 

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

 

Cocteau, Démarche d'un poète.

 

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

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

 

From the Filmmaker

 

 

From the Critic

 

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

 

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

- Roger Ebert

 

From the Public

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

Factoids

 

Previous Year's Rankings

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

 

Director Count

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

 

Decade Count

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

 

International Film Count

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

 

Franchise Count

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

 

Genre Count

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

 

 

A Recipe

Belle's Beef Ragout

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

 

 

 

[DAR]

5 hours ago, The Panda said:

 

216.    Speed Racer (dir. Lana and Lilly Wachowski, 2008)
217.    Eyes Wide Shut (dir. Stanley Kubrick, 1999)
218.    Stop Making Sense (dir. Jonathan Demme, 1984)
219.    3 Idiots (dir. Rajkumar Hirani, 2009)
220.    District 9 (dir. Neill Blomkamp, 2009)

@Jake Gittes  Goal for next countdown is get Stop Making Sense higher on the list

[The Panda]

 

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

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

Edited July 25 by The Panda

[DAR]

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