Pretend you have a ballot for the 2012 edition of Sight & Sound's top 10 movies of all time list

and hooray for the staus quo, considering the alternative.

To hear the word on the street I'd have to communicate with other writers. Doesn't happen much.

Considering the alternative is recognizing The Magnificent Ambersons, Touch of Evil, Chimes at Midnight, F For Fake and The Trial are all roughly equally as great as Kane.

Do I need a Tweet account to follow Tweet countdowns? I don't have one.

Eric, I think you mean Othello and The Lady from Shanghai. You might have a leg to stand on with Ambersons if we actually, you know, had the film.

F for GTFO

Nah, their Tweets aren't protected.

That too. Point being, the longer Citizen Kane holds the top position when there are at least a half-dozen other films from Welles alone that are of equal stature, the goofier this "status quo" continues to look.

even if I ceded your point, which of those Welleses are the troops going to rally behind? and yr chief reason for dismissing Kane seems to be that you're tired of it showing up.

Isn't it just as goofy to play musical chairs with titles for the hell of it?

All part of the game, party animal.

yeah well, u know me. It's an echo chamber anyhow. The general public is sticking to Marvel adaptations.

Does Chris Marker generally show up on many lists? I don't mean to be crass, but if the voting had taken place a month from now, maybe La jetée or Sans Soleil might have made it into the Top 20. Pather Panchali jumped into the Top 10 the year Ray died (though I'm not sure how close the poll was to his death in April). Immediate sentiment can be powerful when it comes to polls and awards.

It's an echo chamber anyhow. The general public is sticking to Marvel adaptations.

Keep reaching for the stars. Maybe someday I'll give up this list-chasing and be the real critic you want me to be.

does S&S have a running-time requirement?

No, someone listed a TV commercial last time around, I think.

clemenza: apparently, in S&S 2002, La Jetee got 3 votes, Sans Soleil one. So as a commenter on a popular Hollywood blog wrote yesterday, "Who the fuck is Chris Marker?"

Thought Jetee had managed 4 votes, but maybe not. (Also, the pool in '02 was much, much smaller.)

Who is Sylvia?

the S&S/BFI site(s) are kind of a disaster to navigate.

Yes, but I'm also gathering from the tweets that they aren't even fixing to upload the database for a few more weeks. They're likely just counting down the top 10 tomorrow.

I thought I remembered Marker's name showing up in individual lists more than that--maybe there were other films of his that got a vote or two (or, more likely, maybe my memory is faulty). I wonder how big a story the list itself will be this time. You may have the paradox that, as the world in general becomes more list-happy, the Sight and Sound Top 10 becomes less of a big deal than it was 20 or 30 years ago.

nah, the 2012 poll will be a bigger deal than ever, precisely because it's been around so long. it has a historical backstory - and a list of contributors - that no other film poll can match

Did someone actually put Dark Knight on their ballot?

I hope you're right. I guess I'm thinking about the glut of lists, even all-time ones like S&S. I'm not sure if Pazz & Jop commands the attention it did 10 or 20 years ago (not a knock--I'm literally not sure), even though the voter's list is ever expanding. Or maybe a better comparison is the year-end film poll in The Voice, which hardly gets any notice at all. (xpost)

but that's largely bcz the VV has become a joke

Did the film poll ever really take off, even when Hoberman was running it? I was always surprised that it never seemed to. It just seems like a different time. But maybe you're right, maybe the Sight and Sound poll transcends that.

also, if citizen kane really is knocked off the top this time, won't that be a big deal?

Before the Film Comment poll became a big deal, the Voice one was probably the most closely followed of its kind.

is the Film Comment one a big deal? I know that mag's been going for a long time but I'm always expecting it to announce it's ceasing publication.

my impression is that the Indiewire one and FC count the most for film weenies.

as for the mag, I dunno, but it's the house organ of the Film Society of Lincoln Center, which just opened 2 new screens. So that means it's safe, maybe?

This says more about me than the polls myself, but I just tried to name all the Pazz & Jop album winners for the '80s from memory--got every one. Can you name the last ten Film Comment year-end winners, Morbius? Can you name the last five?

"than the polls themselves"

I can't name my last 5 meals

last year hadda be Tree of Life

What I'm saying: 1) polls/lists are more ubiquitous than ever, and 2) therefore individual polls/lists are less prominent than they used to be, but 3) Sight and Sound could very well be an exception, and 4) yes, Kane getting displaced would almost certainly be a story.

who remembered that Vertigo was #2 last time? I didn't.

And wearing it like a badge of honor.

https://twitter.com/SightSoundmag/status/230632027056136192

"A tidbit: critics and directors have voted different #1 films."

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_m-BGFQQXrCc/TDMcZ3i-XkI/AAAAAAAAAHU/qV3LdROt6fo/s1600/wonderingcatfailvid.jpg

The margin between Kane and the runner up was a lot wider with directors than critics last time, but I'm still sensing this means Godfather or 8.5 lands #1 on directors.

I suspect I am going to vent my anti-Shining mania for publication before the summer is out.
― World Congress of Itch (Dr Morbius), Monday, April 30, 2012 1:34 PM (3 months ago)

In the form of a piece on Full Metal Jacket?

if it ever gets written

(really wouldn't deal with The Shining in more than half a sentence)

looks like the collective Sl4nt #1 may be Duck Soup!

I don't know if they're planning on compiling those ballots into a conglomerate list, but I do know what Ed told me was the most-mentioned film and it IS a comedy. Just not that one.

Also, we get linked first but called called the "Salon des Refusés" in S&S's collection of links about the poll:

http://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/sight-sound-magazine/polls-surveys/greatest-films-all-time-2012/greatest-films-all-time-comment-around-web

I blew it by choosing the other more labor-intensive project instead of this one. IF ONLY I HAD KNOWN ABOUT THEM AT THE SAME TIME, eh?

Due date on the other project was nearly a month ago iirc.

I'm talking about yet a different one.

Yeah, my senior thesis was late too, I didn't get paid for that either.

I love how everyone on Twitter is now using the phrase "word on the street" re: Vertigo usurping Kane.

word on the Vertigo street

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv-movies/pictures-michael-douglas-liberace-behind-candelabra-article-1.1125875

ok, in the alley, then

http://www.wisdomportal.com/Vertigo/FloristAlley188(658x460).jpg