Corners Of Their Minds
The Hollywood Reporter surveyed a bunch of show biz mucky-mucks and compiled a top 100 movie list. Here's the top 25. I'd list them all but don't have the patience.
2. The Wizard Of Oz
3. Citizen Kane
4. The Shawshank Redemption
5. Pulp Fiction
6. Casablanca
7. The Godfather: Part 2
8. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial
9. 2001: A Space Odyssey
11. Star Wars
12. Back To The Future
13. Raiders Of The Lost Ark
14. Forrest Gump
15. Gone With The Wind
16. To Kill A Mockingbird
17. Apocalypse Now
18. Annie Hall
19. Goodfellas
21. Chinatown
22. The Silence Of The Lambs
23. Lawrence Of Arabia
24. Jaws
25. The Sound Of Music
The list is more commercial and mainstream than critics' lists, but that's the be expected. Most of the films were big hits, and most are in English.
The top director is Steven Spielberg. He's got four in the top 25--E.T., Schindler's List, Raiders and Jaws--along with lower-ranked Saving Private Ryan, Jurassic Park and Close Encounters Of The Third Kind. Other top directors with three or more titles are Coppola, Kubrick, Hitchcock, Scorsese and Christopher Nolan.
Certain picks I don't understand, including the perennially overrated Shawshank Redemption. On the other hand, it's nice to see Pulp Fiction up so high. I assume the relatively younger crowd picked it, while the older types went for Casablanca.
Most disappointing, if predictable, is the short memory of Hollywood. Reading this list, you'd have no idea there was ever a silent era. In fact, there are only 16 films from before 1960, and none before 1939. More than half were released since the 1980s. The most popular decade, with 24 choices--almost one in four--is the 1990s. There were some good films that decade, but better than the 70s? Or the 30s?
When the next list comes out, will, say, Avatar (at #67 already below #45 Titanic) be missing? Or will older films, like On The Waterfront drop out? Time will tell, but I'm surprised Avatar--the biggest hit of all time--made it at all.
posted by LAGuy @ 12:05 AM
3 Comments:
How long before Forrest Gump can disappear?
I really don't understand how E.T. retains such a strong support. It has to be sentimental reaction to something you enjoyed when you were a tween, because I find it impossible to watch as an adult, since it is a pile of poorly acted cliches.
On the other hand, while I don't rank Forrest Gump as one of the greatest films ever, it has a lot going for it, even if it doesn't appeal to one's personal tastes.
FG is a baby boomer generation love letter to itself (and that analogy is about as good and well thought out as the movie).
Shawshank is fine flick and I could even see it sneaking in to the bottom half or quarter of the list, but #4 film of all time? C'mon
Post a Comment
<< Home