The Scopes Monkey Trial

And Jesse ends our trip back in time a century ago, in the silent era.

https://jessewalker.blogspot.com/2025/12/the-year-of-ig-farben-we-have-covered.html

Here are his ten top films from 1925.

1. KIPHO

2. The Battleship Potemkin

3. The Freshman

4. Seven Chances

5. Variety

6. Strike

7. Jeux Des Reflets Et De La Vitesse

8. The Mystic

9. The Phantom Of The Opera

10. Go West

First, let me say it's impressive Jesse has a top ten list at all.  It's not that easy to see ten silent films from any year, much less ten good ones.

KIPHO is a short I haven't seen. Same for Jeux Des Reflets.

The Battleship Potemkin is one of the most influential films in history, and it's pretty good, though overrated. Then there's Eisenstein's other major film, Strike.  It was quite a year for him.  He'd never match it.  These might be his two best films.

My favorite films come from the great silent clowns, so my only complaint about The Freshman and Seven Chances is they're rated too low. And I'm glad Jesse had room for Go West, one of Keaton's weaker features, but still quite something.

Variety certainly deserves a spot.

Tod Browning was a pretty reliable director in the silent era, so I can see putting The Mystic on the list, but I'd have chosen The Unholy Three. Speaking of which, Lon Chaney--star of that film--was also pretty reliable.  And his unmasking in The Phantom Of The Opera provides us with one of the most memorable moments from the whole era.

As good as this list is, there are some titles missing I wouldn't have been surprised to see. Of course, it's possible Jesse hasn't seen them yet.

There's The Big Parade, the biggest hit of the 1920s.  It's a King Vidor epic that gives a ground level view of World War I--or the Great War, as they called it then.

Then there's the original Ben-Hur, another epic, another huge hit, another film that helped make fledgling studio MGM the biggest in Hollywood. I think I prefer it to the Charlton Heston version if only because it's an hour shorter.

Other films of note:

Erich von Stroheim's The Merry Widow, another hit that put MGM on the map.

Lubitsch's silent version of Oscar Wilde's Lady Windermere's Fan.

Douglas Fairbanks in Don Q, Son Of Zorro.

Mary Pickford in Little Annie Rooney.

Tearjerkers East Lynne and Stella Dallas.

The exciting sci-fi adventure The Lost World.

And now we come to the strangest thing of all, the omission of Charlie Chaplin.  In 1925, he made what may be his masterpiece, The Gold Rush.  It's not just the #1 film of the year, but one of the greatest of all time.  And I know Jesse's seen it.

As for 1915, Jesse says his favorite film (not that he's seen too many) is Les Vampires.  I don't know if he's turned off by The Birth Of A Nation, but I assume he's watched it.

For 1905 he likes El Hotel Electrico. For 1895 (the year many say film started--Workers Leaving The Lumiere Factory and all that), The Mechanical Butcher.  In 1885, L'Homme Machine, if you want to call it a movie.

Hoover Dam opens

Jesse Walker now takes us to 1935.

https://jessewalker.blogspot.com/2025/12/the-year-of-wpa-we-have-passed-through.html

Here are his top ten movies:

1. The Bride Of Frankenstein

2. Mutiny On The Bounty

3. Top Hat

4. Ruggles Of Red Gap

5. The 39 Steps

6. A Night At The Opera

7. The Good Fairy

8. Toni

9. Symphony In Black: A Rhapsody Of Negro Life

10. Scenes Of City Life

I can't argue with the top eight, except for their order.  It seems to me Top Hat and A Night At The Opera should be one and two (either way).  After that, however you like.

I haven't seen Scenes Of City Life.  Symphony In Black is a short.

Here are his honorable mentions. (I'm not sure if he had any ten years ago.)

11. Happiness

12. La Bandera

13. Sazen Tange And The Pot Worth A Million Ryo

14. A Colour Box

15. Captain Blood

16. The Hyp-Nut-Tist

17. The Magic Atlas

18. The Devil Is A Woman

19. Les Berceaux

20. The Black Room

I know Hollywood films from 1935 pretty well, but am not so well versed on those from other countries.  Thus, I haven't seen 11, 12 or 13

15 is an enjoyable swashbuckler from Michael Curtiz that made Errol Flynn a star.

18 is the final Dietrich/ von Sternberg collaboration--not without interest, but not among their best.

20 is a fun film Karloff made when he wasn't busy with Bride Of Frankenstein (they churned 'em out back then).

14, 16, 17 and 19 are shorts.

Jesse also mentions Gold Diggers Of 1935, especially for the Busby Berkeley numbers.  It would make my top twenty.  And he brings up A Midsummer Night's Dream, an experiment in high art which to me (and a lot of people) is neither great Shakespeare nor great Warner Brothers.

Other films that would make my top twenty:

An Inn In Tokyo

Roberta

Triumph Of The Will (do I have to note parenthetically I don't approve of the message?)

Other films I like:

Alice Adams, Annie Oakley, Barbary Coast, Bonnie Scotland, Broadway Melody Of 1936, The Call Of The Wild, Carnival In Flanders, The Lives Of A Bengal Lancer, Man On The Flying Trapeze, Mississippi, Peter Ibbetson, The Raven, Steamboat Round The Bend, The Whole Town’s Talking

 

Other films of note:

After Office Hours, Ah, Wilderness!, Anna Karenina, Becky Sharp, Black Fury, The Black Room, Bordertown, Brewster's Millions, The Bride Comes Home, Charlie Chan in Egypt, China Seas, Crime and Punishment, The Crime of Dr. Crespi, The Crusades, Curly Top, Dangerous, David Copperfield, Escapade, Every Night at Eight, The Farmer Takes a Wife, Front Page Woman, G Men, The Ghost Goes West, The Gilded Lily, The Glass Key, Go Into Your Dance, Goin' to Town, Hands Across the Table, Home on the Range, Hop-Along Cassidy, I Live My Life, The Informer, The Last Days of Pompeii, Life Begins at Forty, The Little Colonel, The Littlest Rebel, Lucrezia Borgia, Mad Love, Magnificent Obsession, The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo, Les Misérables, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Naughty Marietta, Our Little Girl, Princess Tam Tam, Private Worlds, Public Hero No. 1, The Raven, Reckless, The Scoundrel, She Married Her Boss, Special Agent, Star of Midnight, A Tale of Two Cities, Thanks a Million, The Wedding Night, Werewolf of London, Westward Ho

Happy Xmas (War Is Over)

Jesse has gone back 80 years to 1945.

The Perpetual Three-Dot Column

Here's his top ten films:

1. I Know Where I'm Going!

2. Ivan The Terrible, Part One

3. Scarlet Street

4. Open City

5. Isle Of The Dead

6. Les Dames Du Bois De Boulogne

7. The Spiral Suitcase

8. The Picture Of Dorian Gray

9, Children Of Paradise

10. Detour

I think every one of these is a quality film (even the low budget ones).  My only difference is in what order I'd rank them.

Powell and Pressburger are often overrated, but I Know Where I'm Going!, a relatively small, black and white affair, is something special.

I don't love Ivan The Terrible, Part One--it may be my least favorite in the top ten--but it is fun in how it's overdone.

Scarlet Street, The Spiral Staircase and Detour are the three films noir on the list.  Bound to have a few in the 40s.  All pretty good.

Open City (or Rome, Open City) is one of the top neorealist films.  While I question some of the theory behind neorealism, the movement did manage to turn out some decent films.

Isle Of The Dead is part of quite a run of Val Lewton-produced B horror films.

I haven't gotten around to Les Dames Du Bois De Boulogne.  I like Bresson's later films, so I suspect I'd like this one.

The Picture Of Dorian Gray is a well-done adaptation of Wilde. (It's more "adapted" than his other work since the source is a novel, not a play.) It helps that Wilde gave them a great visual gimmick to work with.

Children Of Paradise, shot in the middle of the war, may be my favorite film of 1945.

Honorable mentions:

11. Fallen Angel

12. The Body Snatcher

13. My Name Is Julia Ross

14. Draftee Daffy

15. Mildred Pierce

16. Le Vampire

17. Swing Shift Cinderella

18. Wonder Man

19. The Screwy Truant

20. The Wicked Lady

We get yet more noir with Fallen Angel, My Name Is Julia Ross and Mildred Pierce (the last sort of forced into the noir category--the novel had no murder but the film sure does). They hold up about as well as the three in the top ten.

The Body Snatcher is more Val Lewton, and I think I prefer it to Isle Of The Dead.

The Wicked Lady was a big hit in Britain.  It's okay, I guess.

Wonder Man is a solid Danny Kaye film for those who like Danny Kaye.

The rest are shorts.

 

Here are some other films that might make my top ten:

 

Anchor’s Aweigh

 

Dead Of Night

 

The Lost Weekend

 

Other films I like

Along Came Jones, And Then There Were None, Brief Encounter, The Clock, Dillinger, Here Come The Co-Eds, It’s In The Bag, Mom And Dad (for historical reasons), The Naughty Nineties, Rhapsody In Blue, A Royal Scandal, The Southerner, State Fair, Yolanda And The Thief (even weak Astaire is decent), Ziegfeld Follies

 

Other films of note:

Abbott and Costello in Hollywood, Back to Bataan, A Bell For Adano, The Bells of St. Mary's, Blithe Spirit, Blood On The Sun, Brewster's Millions, Caesar and Cleopatra, Captain Kidd, Christmas in Connecticut, Confidential Agent, Conflict, The Corn Is Green, Cornered, Dakota, Dick Tracy, Docks of New York, The Enchanted Cottage, Flame of Barbary Coast, The Great Flamarion, Guest Wife, Hangover Square, Hotel Berlin, House of Dracula, Johnny Angel, Lady on a Train, Leave Her to Heaven, Love Letters, The Man in Half Moon Street, Murder He Says, Objective, Burma!, Our Vines Have Tender Grapes, Pride of the Marines, The Rake's Progress, San Antonio, Saratoga Trunk, Sherlock Holmes And The House Of Fear, Son of Lassie, A Song to Remember, The Spanish Main, Spellbound, The Stork Club, The Story Of G.I. Joe, They Were Expendable, The Thin Man Goes Home, Thunderhead, Son of Flicka, Tonight and Every Night, A Tree Grows In Brooklyn, Waterloo Road, Without Love, The Woman in Green

Ike Has A Heart Attack

Jesse Walker has gone back to the 50s:

https://jessewalker.blogspot.com/2025/12/the-year-of-warsaw-pact-ive-picked-best.html

Here's his top ten list for 1955:

1. One Froggy Evening

2. The Trouble With Harry

3. Smiles Of A Summer Night

4. The Night Of The Hunter

5. Kiss Me Deadly

6. Diabolique

7. East Of Eden

8. Pather Panchali

9. The Man From Laramie

10. Rebel Without A Cause

Looking at this list, it reminds me that in the 50s Hollywood was way behind the best of the rest of the world.

All the foreign language films--Smiles Of A Summer Night, Diabolique, Pather Panchali--are great.  The Hollywood stuff tends to be okay, but overrated.

I'm not sure why Jesse is so taken with the oddball trifle The Trouble With Harry. (I guess it's better than Hitchcock's big film for the year To Catch A Thief.)

The Night Of The Hunter is visually spectacular, but the story isn't much.

Kiss Me Deadly is a fun B-movie.

East Of Eden and Rebel Without A Cause are both overrated. (So is Giant.) At least I sort of like Rebel--don't know if I'd even watch Eden again.

The Man From Laramie is a decent Western, like the others Jimmy Stewart made with Anthony Mann, but is no classic.

One Froggy Evening is a short.

Honorable mentions:

11. Ordet

12. Rififi

13. Water-Mirror Of Granada

14. Mama Don't Allow

15. Cellbound

16. Hare-Brush

17. The Criminal Life Of Archibaldo De La Cruz

18. Gumbasia

19. Killer's Kiss

20. The Ladykillers

11 and 12 continue to demonstrate the superiority of Europe this year. 17 is good Bunuel from his Mexican period. 19 is Kubrick starting to show what he can do, but he's not quite there yet.  20 is a "classic" Alec Guinness comedy that I don't rate as highly as his other classics--maybe it's that I don't like the story.

The rest are shorts (some of which I like very much).

Here are some other films that might have made my top ten:

 

Cinerama Holiday (for spectacle)

 

It’s Always Fair Weather

Here are some other films I like:

Artists And Models, Abbott And Costello Meet The Mummy, The Big Combo, Blackboard Jungle,  Daddy Long Legs, Guys And Dolls, House Of Bamboo, La Pointe Courte, Lady And The Tramp, Lola Montes, Marty, Moonfleet, My Sister Eileen, Oklahoma!, The Phenix City Story, Richard III, The Seven Little Foys,  You're Never Too Young

Other films of note: 

Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops, The Adventures of Quentin Durward, All That Heaven Allows, The Americano, Bad Day at Black Rock, The Beast with a Million Eyes, The Big Knife, Blood Alley, The Cobweb, The Colditz Story, The Constant Husband, The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell, The Dam Busters, The Desperate Hours, Dreams, The Far Horizons, The Fast And The Furious, Foxfire, Francis In The Navy, The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing, Good Morning Miss Dove, Hell's Island, Hit the Deck, How to Be Very Very Popular, I Am a Camera, I Died a Thousand Times, I Live in Fear, I'll Cry Tomorrow, Illegal, Interrupted Melody, It Came from Beneath the Sea, Jupiter's Darling, The Kentuckian, Land Of The Pharaoh’s, The Last Frontier, The Last Ten Days, Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing, Love Me or Leave Me, Mambo, A Man Alone, The Man With The Golden Arm, Man with the Gun, Man Without a Star, Mister Roberts, Mr. Arkadin, My Sister Eileen, The Night of the Hunter, Not as a Stranger, Pete Kelly's Blues, Picnic, Prince of Players. The Prisoner, The Private War of Major Benson, The Quatermass Xperiment, The Racers, Rage At Dawn, The Rains of Ranchipur, The Rose Tattoo, Scandal in Sorrento, The Sea Chase, The Seven Year Itch, The Shrike, So This Is Paris, The Spoilers, Strategic Air Command, Summertime, The Swindle, Taira Clan Saga, Tall Man Riding, The Tall Men, The Tender Trap, This Island Earth, Three for the Show, Tight Spot, To Catch a Thief, To Hell And Back, Trial, Unchained, The Violent Men, The Virgin Queen, We're No Angels, White Feather, Wichita, Women's Prison

Beatles At Shea

Jesse Walker now presents 1965:

The Perpetual Three-Dot Column

Here are his top ten films for that year:

1. Repulsion

2. The Saragossa Manuscript

3. The Loved One

4. King Rat

5. It Happened Here

6. A Game With Stones

7. The Spy Who Came In From The Cold

8. Mickey One

9. Le Bonheur

10. Time Piece

Repulsion in a fine horror film, though perhaps not #1 fine.

Haven't seen The Saragossa Manuscript. Or It Happened Here.  Or Le Bonheur. (By the way, IMDb lists It Happened Here as a 1964 film.)

I find The Loved One to be a mostly unfunny mess.  Mickey One is also a mess, though a fairly interesting one.

King Rat is okay. So is The Spy Who Came In From The Cold. (I don't seem very excited about 1965.)

Minute for minute, A Game With Stones and Time Piece may be the two best films on this list, but they're both shorts so shouldn't be here.

Honorable mentions:

11. Simon Of The Desert

12. Chimes At Midnight

13. The Shop On Main Street

14. For A Few Dollars More

15. Tokyo Olympiad

16. Looking For Mushrooms

17. Major Dundee

18. The Pawnbroker

19. The Return Of Ringo

20. Passages From James Joyce's Finnegans Wake

All in all, a more interesting list than the top ten.

11 was supposed to be part of a bigger film, though I think it stands on its own.  Should be in the top half of the top ten.

Some call 12 one of Welles' best.  Not me. It's got moments, but I don't love it.

13 is pretty good.  14 is fine for this type of movie.  15 should be top ten.

16 is a short.  17 is okay.  18 is intriguing. (People talk about Rod Steiger's performance as all interior, but have you seen it? He's acting up a storm.)

Haven't seen 19 or 20.  I should note at the time it was smart to have "Ringo" in your title.  Lorne Greene's "Ringo" went to #1.

Other films that would make my top twenty:

Beach Blanket Bingo

Help! and The Knack...And How To Get It (neither can touch A Hard Day's Night, but they're both fun)

Other films I like:

Alphaville, Carry On Cowboy, Catch Us If You Can, The Cincinnati Kid, The Collector, The Flight Of The Phoenix, The Great Race, Gumnaam (for the opening dance number), The Hill, How To Murder Your Wife, Loves Of A Blonde, The Naked Prey, Pierrot Le Fou, Red Beard, Ski Party (for James Brown), A Thousand Clowns, Thunderball

 

Other films of note: 

The Agony and the Ecstasy, The Alphabet Murders, The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders, The Art of Love, Baby the Rain Must Fall, Battle of the Bulge, The Bedford Incident, Billie, Boeing Boeing, Bunny Lake Is Missing, Casanova 70, Cat Ballou, Clarence the Cross-Eyed Lion, Darling, Dear Brigitte, Die! Die! My Darling!, Doctor Zhivago, Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine, Dr. Terror's House of Horrors, Dr. Who and the Daleks, The Family Jewels, Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, Ferry Cross the Mersey, Genghis Khan, Girl Happy, The Greatest Story Ever Told, The Hallelujah Trail, Harlow, Harum Scarum, The Heroes of Telemark, How to Stuff a Wild Bikini, Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte, I'll Take Sweden, In Harm's Way, Inside Daisy Clover, The Ipcress File, I Saw What You Did, John Goldfarb Please Come Home!, Juliet of the Spirits, Lady L, Life at the Top, Lord Jim, Marriage on the Rocks, Mirage, The Money Trap, The Monkey's Uncle, Morituri, The Nanny, Never Too Late, None but the Brave, Once a Thief, Othello, A Patch of Blue, Promise Her Anything, Red Line 7000, The Rounders, Sandra, The Sandpiper, The Satan Bug, Sergeant Deadhead, She, Shenandoah, Ship Of Fools, Situation Hopeless...But Not Serious, The Skull, The Slender Thread, The Sons of Katie Elder, The Sound of Music, A Study In Terror, Sylvia, Synanon, That Darn Cat!, That Funny Feeling, Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines, Tickle Me, The Truth About Spring. Viva Maria!, Von Ryan's Express, What's New Pussycat?, Wild on the Beach, Young Dillinger

Gas May Break The Dollar

Jesse Walker now takes us back to 1975.

The Perpetual Three-Dot Column

Here's his top ten films for the year:

1. Nashville

2. Seven Beauties

3. Welfare

4. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Next

5. Monty Python And The Holy Grail

6. Love And Death

7. Dog Day Afternoon

8. Night Moves

9. Picnic At Hanging Rock

10. Eadweard Muybridge, Zoopraxographer

Looks like a pretty good year.

Nashville is a fine film. Altman was on a streak then--I don't consider it his best from the period, but still a top ten film (though not #1).

Seven Beauties is pretty good (you don't hear much about Wertmuller anymore).  Not top ten, perhaps.

I've seen a lot of Wiseman, but not Welfare.  I'd like to.

Everyone but me loves One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest.  I've learned to live with it. (Maybe it would have been better if I hadn't read the novel first.)

Both Monty Python And The Holy Grail and Love And Death are classics.  Rated too low.

Dog Day Afternoon is pretty good.  Maybe a bit overrated here.  I feel the same way, maybe stronger, about Night Moves.

Picnic At Hanging Rock is pretty special.

Haven't seen #10. (I call it #10 because I don't want to have to spell it again.)

Here are Jesse's honorable mentions:

11. Jaws

12. Fox And His Friends

13. Grey Gardens

14. Organism

15. The Man Who Would Be King

16. Shivers

17. Posse

18. Monsieur Pointu

19. Three Days Of The Condor

20. The Magic Flute

I can't believe Jaws, Spielberg's best, isn't in the top ten.  It should be in the running for #1.

Never seen Fox And His Friends.  Fassbinder sure made a lot of films in his short life. I wonder how often this one is confused with Fox & Friends?

Grey Gardens should be top ten. Its reputation seems to grow with each decade.

Haven't seen Organism.

The Man Who Would Be King is one of the few John Huston films I truly like--should be top ten.

Shivers is okay. Not sure if it should make the list.  Feel sort of the same about Posse.

Monsieur Pointu is a short I haven't seen.

Three Days Of The Condor is a fine thriller that should probably make the top ten. (And I like the false predictions about our future at the end.)

I've never seen The Magic Flute.  Not liking opera, I haven't gone out of my way to catch it.

By the way, where is Jeanne Dielman--the greatest film of all time?  For that matter, where is Barry Lyndon--Kubrick's greatest?

Here are some other films that would make my top twenty:

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Smile

Other films I like:

A Boy And His Dog, Cooley High, Coonskin, Death Race 2000, Hard Times, Hearts Of The West, Hester Street, The Passenger, Rancho Deluxe, The Return Of The Pink Panther, Royal Flash, Shampoo, The Story Of Adele H., The Sunshine Boys

Other films of Note

The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother, Aloha, Bobby and Rose, The Apple Dumpling Gang, At Long Last Love, Bite the Bullet, The Black Bird, Brannigan, Breakheart Pass, Breakout, Bucktown, Capone, Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold, Crazy Mama, The Day of the Locust, Dersu Uzala, The Devil's Rain, Diamonds, The Drowning Pool, The Eiger Sanction, Escape to Witch Mountain, Farewell, My Lovely, The Fortune, French Connection II, Friday Foster, Funny Lady, Galileo, Give 'em Hell, Harry!, The Great Waldo Pepper, The Happy Hooker, The Hiding Place, The Hindenburg, Hustle, Inserts, Journey into Fear, Keetje Tippel, The Land That Time Forgot, Legend of the Werewolf, Lepke, Let Joy Reign Supreme, Let's Do It Again, Lies My Father Told Me, Lisztomania, The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum, Lucky Lady, Mahogany, Man Friday, The Man in the Glass Booth, Mandingo, The Mirror, Mitchell, Mr. Ricco, Numéro deux, Once Is Not Enough, Operation Daybreak, The Other Side of the Mountain, Out of Season, Peeper, The Prisoner of Second Avenue, The Promised Land, Race with the Devil, Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins, The Reincarnation of Peter Proud, Rollerball, The Romantic Englishwoman, Rooster Cogburn, Rosebud, Russian Roulette, The 120 Days of Sodom, Le Sauvage, The Stepford Wives. The Strongest Man in the World, Supervixens, Switchblade Sisters, Take a Hard Ride, Terror of Mechagodzilla, Tommy, W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings, Walking Tall Part 2, White Line Fever, The Wild Party, The Wind and the Lion, The Wrong Move, The Yakuza

A Bear In The Woods

Jesse Walker now looks back at the 80s.

https://jessewalker.blogspot.com/2025/12/the-year-of-rainbow-warrior-ive-reeled.html

Here are his top ten films for 1985:

1. Brazil

2. Crime Wave

3. Ran

4. Pee-wee's Big Adventure

5. Mix Up Ou Meli-melo

6. Vagabond

7. After Hours

8. Louie Bluie

9. Static

10. Return To Oz

There are lots of things wrong with Brazil (fantasy sequences--perhaps the reason Terry Gilliam made the film--that go on way too long, and a story that sometimes makes no sense and runs out of steam), but what's good about it is so good it deserves a spot in the top ten.  But not #1. (And let's say goodbye to Oscar-nominated co-writer Tom Stoppard. Also, let me note one of the first people I knew in Hollywood was the guy in charge of the TV version of this film that gave it a happy ending.)

Never seen Crime Wave (not to be confused, Jesse notes, with 1985's Crimewave), but I'd like to.  Same for Mix Up Ou Meli-melo, Louie Bluie and Static.

Ran is okay, but I don't think it makes my top ten list for Kurosawa films.

It's a miracle that Pee-wee's Big Adventure works so well.  I'm not sure how much credit goes to the Pee-wee character for having more to him than anyone imagined, or to Paul Reubens (plus Phil Hartman and Michael Varhol) for knowing just what sort of story to give the character, or to then-newcomer Tim Burton for having the flair and imagination to pull it off.  Definite top ten.

Vagabond is powerful in a quiet way. Still remember seeing it in a Greenwich Village cinema.

After Hours is a trifle from Scorsese.

I saw Return To Oz the day it opened (I was in Grand Rapids at the time--surprising what you remember).  The sparse audience was not amused, and I believe the film killed Walter Murch's directing career.  But I liked it.  Not sure if it'd be top ten, though.  By the way, I chose to see it over another film that opened the same weekend and was a big hit--a fantasy about old people becoming young that I list below as a title that should make the top ten. See if you can figure out which one.

Here are Jesse's honorable mentions:

11. Mishima

12. Fool For Love

13. The Gospel At Colonus

14. Tapei Story

15. Come And See

16. Prizzi's Honor

17. Fluke

18. Chain Letter

19. Epic Of Gilgamesh

20. Back To The Future

Don't particularly go for Mishima, Fool For Love or Prizzi's Honor.

Back To The Future should be top ten. (I just read Michael J. Fox's Future Boy, by the way)

The rest I haven't seen.  Let me note Fluke is a short, not to be confused with the 1995 feature of the same name.

Here are some other films that would make my top ten or twenty:

Cocoon

Dreamchild

Explorers

Heaven Help Us

Lost In America (probably #1)

My Life As A Dog

Police Story

The Sure Thing (Rob Reiner's forgotten film)

Tampopo

Here are other films from 1985 that I like:

28 Up, Better Off Dead, Colonel Redl, Commando, Day Of The Dead, Desperately Seeking Susan, Fletch, Into The Night, The Jewel Of The Nile, Krush Groove, The Last Dragon, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, Mala Noche, My Beautiful Laundrette, Plenty, Real Genius, A Room With A View, Runaway Train, Spies Like Us, When Father Was Away On Business, Witness

 

Other films of note:

The Adventures of Mark Twain. Agnes of God, Alamo Bay, American Flyers, American Ninja. The Aviator, Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend, Bad Medicine, The Black Cauldron, The Boys Next Door, The Breakfast Club, Brewster's Millions, The Bride, Cat's Eye, The Care Bears Movie, A Chorus Line, Clue, The Coca-Cola Kid, Code of Silence, The Color Purple, Compromising Positions, D.A.R.Y.L, Dance with a Stranger, Death Wish 3, Defence of the Realm, Desert Hearts, Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart, Eleni, The Emerald Forest, Enemy Mine, The Falcon And The Snowman, Fandango, Final Justice, Flesh and Blood, Friday the 13th, Part V: A New Beginning, Ghoulies, Girls Just Want to Have Fun, The Goonies, Gotcha!, Grace Quigley, Hail Mary, The Holcroft Covenant, Insignificance, Invasion U.S.A., Jagged Edge, Joshua Then and Now, The Journey of Natty Gann, Just One of the Guys, King David, King Solomon's Mines, Kiss Of The Spider Woman, Ladyhawke, Legend, The Legend Of Billie Jean, Letter to Brezhnev, Lust in the Dust, The Man with One Red Shoe, Marie, Mask, Maxie, The Mean Season, Movers & Shakers, Murphy's Romance, My Sweet Little Village. National Lampoon's European Vacation, A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge, No End, No Surrender, The Official Story, Once Bitten, One Magic Christmas, Ordeal by Innocence, Out of Africa, Pale Rider, Perfect, Pizza Connection, Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment, Private Resort, The Protector, The Purple Rose Of Cairo, Radioactive Dreams, Rambo: First Blood Part II, Re-Animator, Red Sonja, Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins, The Return of the Living Dead, Revolution, Rocky IV, Rustlers' Rhapsody, Santa Claus: The Movie, Secret Admirer, Sesame Street Presents Follow That Bird, Shoah, The Shooting Party, Silver Bullet, Silverado, The Slugger's Wife, Smooth Talk, St. Elmo’s Fire, Stick, Subway, Summer Rental, Sweet Dreams, Target, Teen Wolf, That Was Then...This Is Now, That's Dancing!, To Live and Die in L.A., Transylvania 6-5000, The Trip To Bountiful, Trouble In Mind, Tuff Turf, Turk 182!, Turtle Diary, Twice in a Lifetime, UFOria, A View to a Kill, Vision Quest, Volunteers, Wetherby, Weird Science, Wild Geese II, White Nights, Year of the Dragon, Young Sherlock Holmes, A Zed & Two Noughts

Enjoying The Peace Dividend

Jesse Walker is now back to 1995.  Here are his top ten films from that year:

 https://jessewalker.blogspot.com/2025/12/the-year-of-fertilizer-bomb-ive-listed.html

1. Safe

2. Smoke

3. Twelve Monkeys

4. Maborosi

5.  Toy Story

6.  The City Of Lost Children

7. Shanghai Triad

8.  Funny Bones

9.  Get Shorty

10. Welcome To The Dollhouse

And interesting collection of titles--makes 1995 look like an intriguing year.

I'm happy to say that in the past decade I've gone from not liking Safe to thinking it's okay.

Toy Story, Get Shorty, Welcome To The Dollhouse and probably Smoke would make my top ten.

Twelve Monkeys and Shanghai Triad might make my top twenty.

Haven't seen Maborosi.

Not sure what to make of the other two titles.  I remember liking City Of Lost Children but thinking it overdone. Regarding Funny Bones, not sure if it's a disaster or a masterpiece.  Guess I need to see it again.

Here are Jesse's honorable mentions

11. La Ceremonie

12. Tierra

13. Whisper Of The Heart

14. Electronic Superhighway

15. The Drivetime

16. Clueless

17. A Close Shave

18. Underground

19. Casino

20. The Wife

I like Clueless (an important film for me since I was trying to sell a teen comedy at the time) and A Close Shave.

When Casino came out it seemed like a wan update of Goodfellas.  Now it seems like a great update of Goodfellas. Still a bit long.

Haven't seen the rest.

Here are films that would make my top ten (or twelve) list:

The Brady Bunch Movie

Cold Comfort Farm

Dead Man

Jumanji

Living In Oblivion

Pocahontas

To Die For

Here are some other 1995 films that I liked:

An Awfully Big Adventure, Babe, Crumb, The Fantasticks, (one or two parts of) Four Rooms, From The Journals Of Jean Seberg, Kicking And Screaming, Kids, Mr. Hollands Opus (mostly), Richard III, Rumble In The Bronx, Showgirls, (a bit of) Skin Deep, Unstrung Heroes, While You Were Sleeping

Other films of note:

Ace Venture: When Nature Calls, Across the Sea of Time, The Addiction, The American President, Angel Baby, Angela , Angels & Insects, Angus, Antonia's Line, Apollo 13, Assassins, Attack of the 60 Foot Centerfold, An Awfully Big Adventure, The Baby-Sitters Club, Bad Boys, Bad Company, The Basketball Diaries, Batman Forever, Before Sunrise, Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, Beyond Rangoon, Billy Madison, The Blade, Boys On The Side, Braveheart,  The Break, The Bridges Of Madison County, The Brothers McMullen, Bushwhacked, Buttterfly Kiss, Bye Bye Love, Canadian Bacon, Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh, Carrington, A Chinese Odyssey, Circle of Friends, Clockers, Commissioner, Congo, Copycat, The Cremaster Cycle, Criminal, Crimson Tide, The Crossing Guard, Cry, the Beloved Country, The Cure, Curtains, Cutthroat Island, Darkman II: The Return of Durant, Days of Rage, Dead Man Walking, Dead Presidents, Deep River, Destiny Turns On The Radio, Devil in a Blue Dress, Die Hard With A Vengeance, Dolores Claiborne, Don Juan DeMarco, Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde, Dracula: Dead and Loving It, Empire Records, The Englishman Who Went up a Hill but Came down a Mountain, Fair Game, Fallen Angels, Father of the Bride Part II, First Knight, Fluke, For Better or Worse, Forget Paris, Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home, French Kiss, Friday, Full Throttle, Georgia, Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, Gold Diggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain, GoldenEye, A Goofy Movie, Gordy, The Grass Harp,  Grumpier Old Men, Gumby: The Movie, Hackers, Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, Headless Body in Topless Bar, Heavy, Heavyweights, Higher Learning, Houseguest, How to Make an American Quilt, In the Mouth of Madness, The Indian in the Cupboard, It's Pat, Jefferson in Paris, Jeffrey, The Jerky Boys: The Movie, Johnny Mnemonic, Judge Dredd, Just Cause, Kickboxer 5, A Kid In King Arthur's Court, Kidnapped, Kiss of Death, Last Summer In The Hamptons, Leaving Las Vegas, Leprechaun 3, Little Criminals, Little Odessa, A Little Princess, Losing Isaiah, Mad Love, Major Payne, Mallrats, Man Of The Year, Miami Rhapsody, Mighty Aphrodite, Mighty Morphin Rangers: The Movie, Money Train, Moonlight and Valentino, Mortal Kombat, Murder In The First, My Antonia, My Father Is a Hero, The Net, Never Talk to Strangers, Nick of Time, Nine Months, Nixon, Now And Then, Nine Months, Nixon, Now And Then, Operation Dumbo Drop, Othello, Outbreak, Party Girl, The Piano Lesson, Picture Perfect, Piranha, Pyromaniac's Love Story, The Quick And The Dead, Requiem, Restoration, Rob Roy, Roommates, The Scarlett Letter, Screamers, Sense And Sensibility, Seven, Slam Dunk, Ernest, Something To Talk About, Species, Steal Big Steal Little, Strange Days, Stuart Saves His Family, Tales From The Hood, Tall Tale, Tank Girl, Target, Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead, To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar, Tom and Huck, Tommy Boy, Under Siege 2: Dark Territory, The Underneath, The Usual Suspects, Vampire In Brooklyn, Village Of The Damned, Virtuosity, Waiting to Exhale, A Walk in the Clouds, Waterworld, White Man's Burden, Wild Bill, The Young Poisoner's Handbook

Remember When Bush Was The Worst President Ever?

Jesse Walker now takes us back to the year 2005.   He admits his top twenty is the same as it was ten years ago--Gen Z grew up without Jesse changing his mind.

If you want to see his full comments, check them out at:

https://jessewalker.blogspot.com/2025/12/the-year-of-levees-ive-told-you-my.html

TOP TEN

1. Caché

2. Live and Become

3. Corpse Bride

4. The Dying Gaul

5. The Curse of the Were-Rabbit

6. Deadwood 2

7. Hustle & Flow

8. The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada

9. Noroi: The Curse

10. Veronica Mars

Cache is one of Michael Haneke's best films (faint praise, as I'm not a fan).  Maybe not top ten material, but top twenty.

I didn't really go for Corpse Bride.

The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit would probably make my top ten.

Hustle & Flow might make the lower rungs of my top twenty.

Horror may be my least favorite genre, but Noroi was okay--maybe top twenty.

Still haven't see 2, 4 and 8.  And 6 and 10 are TV shows.

Honorable mentions:

11. Paradise Now

12. Sin City

13. Grizzly Man

14. The Thick of It

15. Nine Lives

16. Batman Begins

17. Forty Shades of Blue

18. Happy Endings

19. The Death of Mr. Lazarescu

20. Rize

Sin City demonstrates it's a mistake to be too faithful to a graphic novel. Grizzly Man has stuck with me--might make my top ten. Batman Begins is okay (not a big fan of the Batman movies).  I enjoyed Happy Endings, but not top twenty.

The rest I have failed to see in the twenty years I've had the chance.

Other films that make my top ten or twenty:

Crash (I saw it once twenty years ago and I don't care about the backlash, I liked it)

Downfall (got to be the most viewed film ever with Hitler in it, but not for the reason the creators expected)

The 40-Year-Old Virgin (he's now 60--time for a sequel?)

A History Of Violence

Howl's Moving Castle

The March Of The Penguins

The Squid And The Whale

The Wild Parrots Of Telegraph Hill

Junebug

Layer Cake

The Nomi Song

Other films I liked:

Hitch, The Matador, The New World, Sky High, Transamerica, The Producers, Mr. And Mrs. Smith, Sahara, The World's Fastest Indian

Other films of note:

The Wedding Date, Guess Who, In Her Shoes. The Family Stone, Jarhead, Lords Of Dogtown, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Syriana, Cinderella Man, Coach Carter, Fun With Dick And Jane, Assault On Precinct 13, The Honeymooners, War Of The Worlds, Bewitched, Saw II, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith, Kingdom of Heaven, Sarah Silverman: Jesus Is Magic ,he Island, Red Eye, Four Brothers, The Skeleton Key, Flightplan, Serenity, The Pacifier, Bride And Prejudice, The Upside Of Anger, Hostage, The Aristocrats, Broken Flowers, In The Realm Of The Unreal, Capote, The Corpse Bride, Brokeback Mountain, Walk The Line, In Good Company, The Jacket, Fever Pitch, Melinda And Melinda, Kung Fu Hustle, The Interpreter, Madagascar, Kicking And Screaming, Unleashed, Just Like Heaven, Zathura, The Ice Harvest, Elektra, 2046, Match Point, Munich, Good Night And Good Luck, Chronicles Of Narnia, Fantastic Four, Chicken Little, Monster-In-Law, Are We There Yet?, The Dukes Of Hazzard, Cheaper By The Dozen 2, The Exorcism Of Emily Rose, Herbie: Fully Loaded, The Amityville Horror, Yours Mine And Ours, Memoirs Of A Geisha, Hide And Seek, Diary Of A Mad Black Woman, Racing Stripes, Just Like Heaven, Boogeyman, The Legend Of Zorro, Must Love Dogs, Transporter 2, Rumor Has It, The Adventures Of Sharkboy And Lavagirl in 3D, The Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants, Beauty Shop, Derailed, Hostage, The Ringer, Dreamer, Because Of Winn-Dixie, Me And You And Everyone We Know, Just Friends, House Of Wax, Get Rich Or Die Tryin', The Fog, Hoodwinker, Rent, Doom, XXX: State Of The Union, Elizabethtown, Aeon Flux, Dark Water, Ice Princess, Two For The Money, Prime, Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo, A Lot Like Love, Man Of The House, Valiant, Cursed, Into The Blue, North Country, Pooh's Heffalump Movie, Son Of The Mask, Rebound, The Perfect Man, Waiting..., The Gospel, The Greatest Game Ever Played, The Cave, Casanova, In The Mix, Domino, The Great Raid, Cry Wolf, An Unfinished Life, The Man, Mad Hot Ballroom, Ladies In Lavender, Kings and Queen, The World, Tropical Malady, The Holy Girl, Last Days, Cafe Lumiere, Nobody Knows, The Intruder, Head-On, Mysterious Skin, My Summer Of Love, Saraband, The Power Of Nightmares, Paradise Now, Pulse, Keane, Memories Of Murder, Darwin's Nightmare, Good Morning Night, The Beat That My Heart Skipped, The Best Of Youth, The Century Of The Self, Look At Me, Breakfast On Pluto, Innocence, Turtles Can Fly, Palindromes, Pride & Prejudice, Tony Takitani, The White Diamond, The Devil's Rejects, 3-Iron, The Time We Killed, Funny Ha Ha, My Mother's Smile, A Tout De Suite, Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance, Whisky, Wolf Creek, Mondovino, Yes, The Weeping Meadow, Gunner Palace, Chain, Land Of Plenty, Machuca, Shopgirl, Three Dancing Slaves, Oliver Twist, Dallas 362, Occupation Dreamland, The Oil Factor, Murderball, Dolls, Garcon Stupide, Heights, The Ballad Of Jack And Rose, The Far Side Of The Moon, Happy Here And Now, The Joy Of Life, Nine Lives, The President's Last Bang, Rize, The Dying Gaul, Proof, Travellers And Magicians, The Brothers Grimm, The Memory Of A Killer, Separate Lies, The Syrian Bride, Lord Of War, The Weather Man, Where The Truth Lies, The Baxter, Loggerheads, The Ninth Day, A Talking Picture, Tell Them Who You Are, Throw Down, The White Countess, Cronicas, Exorcist Prequel (either version), Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room, Perfect Crime, The Prize Winner Of Defiance Ohio, She's One Of Us, New York Doll, The 3 Rooms Of Melancholia, Another Road Home, Boys Of Baraka, In Satmar Custody, Terror, Wall, The Untold Story Of Emmett Louis

Looking Back To Thirty Years After Back To The Future

It's December, which means we reopen the blog and let Jesse Walker tell us his top ten.  Ten years ago.  He won't tell his top ten films for 2025--too early--but he's had time to think about 2015, so merrily we roll along. (We'll soon be getting to 2005, 1995, 1985 and so on.  Stay tuned.)

Here's the URL if you want the original:

https://jessewalker.blogspot.com/2025/12/the-year-of-escalator-when-december.html

1.  The Americans 2

2.  The Leftovers 2

3.  World Of Tomorrow

4.  Anomalisa

5.  BoJack Horseman 2

6.  The Hateful Eight

7.  Kaili Blues

8.  The Second Mother

9.  Bone Tomahawk

10. 66 (Old) Movie Dance Scenes Mashup

I haven't kept track, but this may be the first time that none of the films on Jesse's top ten would make my top twenty.

It's not as bad as it sounds, though.  First, he includes television shows, which I don't think should be on film lists. (Haven't seen The Americans, loved the second season of The Leftovers, didn't go for BoJack Horseman.)

World Of Tomorrow is one of the best things to come out of 2015, but it's a short, which I also don't think should be included on such a list (even though it's one of three parts which, together, are arguably a feature). 66 (Old) Movie Dance Scenes Mashup is also a short.

And I haven't seen Kaili Blues, The Second Mother or Bone Tomahawk.

So that leaves Anomalisa and The Hateful Eight.  I consider them minor works by talented filmmakers (Charlie Kaufman and Quentin Tarantino) that are okay at best.

Here are Jesse's honorable mentions:

11.  The Revenant

12.  Florida Man

13.  Better Call Saul

14.  A Magical Substance Flows Into Me

15.  Mr. Robot season_1.0

16.  The Lobster

17.  Veep 4

18.  Weather Service

19. Thailand Moment

20. The Forbidden Room

Liked 11 a lot.  Haven't seen 12, 14, 18 (don't even know what 18 is), 19 or 20.  13, 15 and 17 are TV shows.  16--finally, a film that would make my top ten (though I didn't see it until 2016).

Here are some other films that might make my top ten or twenty

Ant-Man

Faults

Inside Out

Korla

Man Up

The Martian

Room

Tangerine

The Walk

What We Do In The Shadows

When Marnie Was There

Other films of note:

Wild Tales, Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey Of Richard Stanley's Island Of Dr. Moreau, Mad Max: Fury Road, A Pigeon Sat On A Branch Reflecting On Existence, Deep Web, Mission: Impossible -- Rogue Nation, The End Of The Tour, Mistress America, Blind, Brooklyn, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, He Never Died, Mustang, The Brand New Testament, The Fencer Still Alice, Kingsmen: The Secret Service, Focus (the first half is really good), An Honest Liar, The Wrecking Crew, Danny Collins, While We're Young, Can't Stand Losing You, Furious 7, Ned Rifle, Ex Machina, Alex Of Venice, The DUFF, Dior And I, Avengers: Age Of Ultron, Welcome To Me, Iris, McFarland, USA, Cobain: Montage Of Heck, Sunshine Superman, Tomorrowland, I'll See You In My Dreams, Love & Mercy, Live From New York!, Dope, A Poem Is A Naked Person, Trainwreck, 7 Chinese Brothers, Best Of Enemies, Sir Doug And The Genuine Texas Cosmic Groove, What She Said: The Art Of Pauline Kael, Bajranji Bhaijaan, Listen To Me Marlon, Mr. Holmes, Doomed!, Straight Outta Compton,  People Places Things, Meru, San Andreas, American Ultra, Gueros, Grandma, Steve Jobs: The Man In The Machine, Sicario, The Intern, The Death Of "Superman Lives" What Happened?, Mississippi Grind, Drunk Stone Brilliant Dead: The Story Of The National Lampoon, Steve Jobs, All Things Must Pass, Peggy Guggenheim: Art Addict, Very Semi-Serious, Creed, The Good Dinosaur, The Peanuts Movie, Hitchcock/Truffaut, The Big Short, Sisters, Youth, Amy, Beasts Of No Nation, Daddy's Home, Taken 3, The Wedding Ringer, Son Of A Gun, Jupiter Ascending, Deli Man, Run All Night, Hot Tub Time Machine 2, Insurgent, Get Hard, True Story, Dior And I, Far From The Madding Crowd, Hot Pursuit, Pitch Perfect 2, Survivor, Spy, Results, Theeb, Entourage, Jurassic World, Paul Blart Mall Cop 2, The Overnight, Ted 2, The Tribe, Terminator Genisys, The Wolfpack, Aloha, Irrational Man, The Stanford Prison Experiment, Cop Car, Call Me Lucky, Cartel Land, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Z For Zachariah, A Walk In The Woods,  A War, Queen Of Earth, 4Got10, Black Mass, Vacation, Everest, Gravy, Northern Soul, Goodnight Mommy, Meadowland, Experimenter, Bridge Of Spies, Rock The Kasbah, Our Brand Is Crisis, Burnt, Pixels, Trumbo, Spectre, Spotlight (Best Picture Oscar Winner), Maze Runner Scorch Trials, Entertainment, Boy And The World, The Night Before, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay -- Part 2, Carol, Unfinished Business, Embrace Of The Serpent, Fifty Shades Of Grey, Cold Deck, Minions, Secret In Their Eyes, Blackhat, Legend, Son Of Saul, Dreams Rewired, Love The Coopers, Joy, Krampus, 45 Years, The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Concussion, Point Break