ILX All-Time Film and Morbsies Poll: RESULTS Thread for ILX's Favorite Movies, Films, Cinema, Flicks & Moving Pictures

I only finally watched Sans Soleil recently (thx Criterion Channel) and loved it but I guess it hasn’t yet seeped in enough for me to have thought of it when it came to voting. I could have voted for it, though, probably should have over some of what I did. One line of the narration made me stop the movie just to write it down — “History only tastes bitter to those who expected it to be sugar-coated.”

The first minute alone contains a whole ethos.

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42. STOP MAKING SENSE (Jonathan Demme, 1984, USA) [826.7 points; 10 votes; Morbs silver]
S&S: 1,176 | TSPDT: 1,258 | BOXD: DNP

MORBS SEZ: "Demme's is my favorite concert film … i'm pretty much not a Talking Heads fan save for Stop Making Sense"

Stop Making Sense will always be one of the top 5 things I have ever experienced. Pure Joy.
― Francisco Monar (fmonar), Wednesday, June 16, 2004 9:20 AM

Stop Making Sense is pretty much perfect.
― gbx (skowly), Thursday, April 6, 2006 10:03 PM

Stop Making Sense. Easily one of the greatest concert films ever.
― nickalicious (nickalicious), Thursday, January 15, 2004 12:53 PM

I love the song in "Stop Making Sense" where Byrne dances with the floor lamp and his shadow gets thrown all over the place. Stop Making Sense rulez.
― n/a (Nick A.), Monday, September 26, 2005 9:19 AM

fat suits aren't funny? Haven't you seen Stop Making Sense?
― Anthony (Anthony F), Sunday, October 5, 2003 9:11 PM

Stop Making Sense is the best movie of '84.
― The Edge of Gloryhole (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, July 24, 2011 8:54 PM

There was a pretty hot guy in Josie. There are no hot guys in Stop Making Sense. I believe this debate has officially ended now with my stunning proof of supremecy.
― Ally, Friday, May 4, 2001 7:00 PM

Will this be the highest placed documentary?

Oh, I also would add Sans soleil to the experimental pile for purposes of the discussion earlier.

Guess my vote for Stop Making Senso will get lost in the supermarket.

^^Take it to the JBR screen names thread

Heh, knew that was coming,

I was just the right age to essentially discover Talking Heads via SMS, and most of its versions are my favorite versions of those songs (except the ones from Remain in Light, which I did already know from my dad’s LP). I wonder if it works now for people who don’t know the band? Would it hold anyone’s interest more than your average YouTube performance clip?

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41. A SERIOUS MAN (Joel & Ethan Coen, 2009, USA) [830.4 points; 15 votes]
S&S: 1,176 | TSPDT: 1,510 | BOXD: DNP

MORBS SEZ: "it's the most serious American film about Judaism I can recall since Mazursky's Enemies. Key ambiguous line: 'I didn't do anything.' … This is the film my jobless Irish Catholic ass most related to this year."

i keep thinking about this movie. the two keys for me are the opening scene -- a (fake?) folk tale, supposedly with a meaning and a lesson but providing neither really -- and the second rabbi's lesson of the goy's teeth -- ditto. who cares?. and that's the structure of the whole movie. more things happen. and then, this, and then, another thing. he has a dream. and then, the doctor calls. how does it end? it doesn't.
― goole, Wednesday, December 2, 2009 11:36 AM

This was AWESOME. The younger rabbi + "goy's teeth" sequences = every conversation I ever had with a rabbi. that peculiar kind of avuncular unhelpfulness, stories that go nowhere, etc.
― Wrinkles, I'll see you on the other side (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, February 16, 2010 12:25 PM

Dybbuk, Schmybbuk: I Said "More Ham"
― M. Grissom/DeShields (jaymc), Sunday, October 18, 2009 1:18 PM

no1 is mentioning important thing: this film is hell of funny
― Greatest contributor: (history mayne), Tuesday, May 11, 2010 3:22 AM

probably my favourite cohen bros' film.
― Rave Van Donk (jim in glasgow), Saturday, February 22, 2014 11:26 PM

perfect right to the final frame. I remember watching it and thinking "oh shit how cool would it be if they just cut here" AND THEY DID. No spoilers for the yet-to-enjoy of course.
― attention vampire (MatthewK), Monday, May 15, 2017 10:28 PM

keep going, dudes, now i'll never see this fucking movie.
― by another name (amateurist), Tuesday, May 11, 2010 8:05 AM

everyone be quiet or amateurist will never see this :(
― sir gaga (s1ocki), Tuesday, May 11, 2010 8:50 AM

I ranked A Serious Man because for me it was like a magic trick, pulling a great movie out of thin air, as unexpected as a live rabbit pulled from a hat. It was crushingly funny and slyly true to life at the same time. Even better, the characters were foolish without ever being imbecilic, allowing for a kind of tenderness and deep understanding of the characters that's rare in a Coens' comedy. Just great stuff from start to finish. But you should have some familiarity with American jews to really appreciate everything they put in it.
― A is for (Aimless), Monday, May 15, 2017 10:15 PM

The quantum mechanics he is writing on the board in the lecture is not just bullshit symbols, so they clearly had some help, but it's wrong in quite a trivial algrebraic way. this must have been so obvious to whoever helped them that i suspect it is deliberate. Like he has gone nuts and forgotten that x - x = 0 (which is one of the mistakes). THANK GOD SOMEBODY ELSE NOTICED THIS especially since the line reading is PERFECT -- he says "bracket (pause) p squared - bracket p (pause) squared" -- so whoever coached him on the dialogue got it right -- but then he writes the wrong thing on the board! note this blackboard is part of a dream sequence -- you also see a graph labelled with an aleph and an ayin, not actually used in physics as far as I know -- so maybe we're being shown that something he thinks is substantive is actually, thanks to his mistakes, zero?
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Friday, July 15, 2011 12:04 AM

so I was totally verklempt. I don't want to spoil it for anyone but remembering the to-and-fro about the goyim neighbours, they may not have been friendly 24/7 but they did challenge the cops who came to hassle the Gopniks - and in one tiny scene you get my town, in a nutshell. School friend who went to film with me lived next door to the Meshbeshers, so we were in LOL heaven. Many of our town's stories end with a bill from that lawyer.
― viagra falls (suzy), Saturday, November 21, 2009 4:16 PM

Oh god, I miss the Lincoln Del.
― really senile old crap shit (Eric H.), Wednesday, December 2, 2009 11:16 AM

Fred Melamed killed it in this movie, a performance for the ages.

Yes!

And so here's where we are heading into our top 40 ...

100. ROSEMARY'S BABY (Roman Polanski, Roman 1968, USA) [620 points; 10 votes]
99. LA JETÉE (Chris Marker, Chris 1962, France) [623.33 points; 9 votes; 1 first-place vote; Morbs silver]
98. MY NEIGHBOUR TOTORO (Miyazaki Hayao, 1988, Japan) [623.9 points; 10 votes]
97. SEVEN SAMURAI (Kurosawa Akira, 1954, Japan) [624.67 points; 9 votes]
96. MESHES OF THE AFTERNOON (Maya Deren & Alexander Hammid, 1943, USA) [625.71 points; 7 votes]
95. SHOWGIRLS (Paul Verhoeven, 1995, USA) [628 points; 4 votes]
94. ONCE UPON A TIME IN ANATOLIA (Nuri Bilge Ceylan, 2011, Turkey) [636 points; 6 votes]
93. ERASERHEAD (David Lynch, 1977, USA) [636.9 points; 10 votes]
92. THE GODFATHER (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972, USA) [643.4 points; 10 votes]
91. LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD (Alain Resnais, 1961, France) [645.82 points; 11 votes]

90. MANDY (Panos Cosmatos, 2018, USA) [646.5 points; 8 votes]
89. THIS IS SPINAL TAP (Rob Reiner, 1984, USA) [650.91 points; 11 votes]
88. JOHNNY GUITAR (Nicholas Ray, 1954, USA) [651 points; 6 votes]
87. THE SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE (Victor Erice, 1973, Spain) [652 points; 8 votes]
86. A BRIGHTER SUMMER DAY (Edward Yang, 1991, Taiwan) [655.5 points; 6 votes; 1 first-place vote]
85. THE LADY EVE (Preson Sturges, 1941, USA) [656.4 points; 10 votes; Morbs silver]
84. CELINE AND JULIE GO BOATING (Jacques Rivette, 1974, France) [658.57 points; 7 votes]
83. THE KING OF COMEDY (Martin Scorsese, 1983, USA) [659.82 points; 11 votes; Morbs gold]
82. WILD STRAWBERRIES (Ingmar Bergman, 1957, Sweden) [661.5 points; 6 votes]
81. IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (Frank Capra, 1946, USA) [661.63 points; 8 votes]

80. CALIFORNIA SPLIT (Robert Altman, 1974, USA) [663 points; 6 votes]
79. UNDER THE SKIN (Jonathan Glazer, 2014, UK) [665 points; 12 votes]
78. THE WICKER MAN (Robin Hardy, 1973, UK) [668.5 points; 8 votes]
77. THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY (Sergio Leone, 1966, Italy) [670 points; 12 votes; Morbs silver]
76. DAISIES (Vera Chytilová, 1966, Czechoslovakia) [674.29 points; 7 votes; 1 first-place vote]
75. THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE (John Ford, 1962, USA) [683.63 points; 8 votes; Morbs gold]
74. DAYS OF HEAVEN (Terrence Malick, 1978, USA) [683.63 points; 8 votes; 1 first-place vote]
73. BEING JOHN MALKOVICH (Spike Jonze, 1999, USA) [700.6 points; 10 votes]
72. PIERROT LE FOU (Jean-Luc Godard, 1965, France) [705 points; 6 votes]
71. MIRROR (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1975, USSR) [708.38 points; 8 votes; Morbs gold]

70. M (Fritz Lang, 1931, Germany) [708.67 points; 9 votes]
69. THE LIFE AND DEATH OF COLONEL BLIMP (Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger, 1943, UK) [715.71 points; 7 votes]
68. CRUMB (Terry Zwigoff, 1994, USA) [716.63 points; 8 votes]
67. PULP FICTION (Quentin Tarantino, 1994, USA) [717.5 points; 10 votes; 1 first-place vote]
66. TOUCH OF EVIL (Orson Welles, 1958, USA) [719.33 points; 9 votes; 1 first-place vote]
65. 3 WOMEN (Robert Altman, 1977, USA) [725.3 points; 10 votes]
64. BACK TO THE FUTURE (Robert Zemeckis, 1985, USA) [728.55 points; 11 votes]
63. ALI: FEAR EATS THE SOUL (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1974, West Germany) [729.2 points; 10 votes; Morbs silver]
62. THE MALTESE FALCON (John Huston, 1941, USA) [733.1 points; 10 votes; Morbs silver]
61. AU HASARD BALTHAZAR (Robert Bresson, 1966, France) [734.91 points; 11 votes]

60. SUNRISE: A SONG OF TWO HUMANS (F.W. Murnau, 1927, USA) [752.6 points; 10 votes; 1 first-place vote]
59. SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK (Charlie Kaufman, 2008, USA) [768.67 points; 9 votes]
58. GROUNDHOG DAY (Harold Ramis, 1993, USA) [772.46 points; 13 votes]
57. IMITATION OF LIFE (Douglas Sirk, 1959, USA) [774 points; 6 votes]
56. THE 400 BLOWS (François Truffaut, 1959, France) [779.33 points; 9 votes]
55. THE GRADUATE (Mike Nichols, 1967, USA) [783.33 points; 9 votes]
54. JURASSIC PARK (Steven Spielberg, 1993, USA) [786 points; 9 votes]
53. THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE (Tobe Hooper, 1974, USA) [788.13 points; 8 votes]
52. NOTORIOUS (Alfred Hitchcock, 1946, USA) [793.63 points; 8 votes]
51. PSYCHO (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960, USA) [793.75 points; 12 votes; Morbs silver]

50. PERSONA (Ingmar Bergman, 1966, Sweden) [805.69 points; 13 votes; 1 first-place vote]
49. MAD MAX: FURY ROAD (George Miller, 2015, Australia) [808.73 points; 11 votes]
48. POSSESSION (Andrzej Żuławski, 1981, France-West Germany) [810 points; 9 votes; 1 first-place vote]
47. FARGO (Joel & Ethan Coen, 1996, USA) [811.1 points; 10 votes]
46. SPIRITED AWAY (Miyazaki Hayao, 2001, Japan) [811.27 points; 11 votes]
45. THE THING (John Carpenter, 1982, USA) [815 points; 10 votes]
44. BLUE VELVET (David Lynch, 1986, USA) [822 points; 15 votes]
43. SANS SOLEIL (Chris Marker, 1983, France) [825.25 points; 8 votes]
42. STOP MAKING SENSE (Jonathan Demme, 1984, USA) [826.7 points; 10 votes; Morbs silver]
41. A SERIOUS MAN (Joel & Ethan Coen, 2009, USA) [830.4 points; 15 votes]

i've seen it claimed that a serious man is about how judaism doesn't have answers to modern moral questions. is this what people get out of it? it just seemed like a shaggy dog story to me.

the people who claimed that are blockheads who should be banned from watching anything but Marvel movies and cartoons.

Stop Making Sense and A Serious Man were both on my list, doubling my representation so far - I'll be amazed if I make it to 10

Left the Coens off my ballot entirely because I knew they'd be plenty high enough without my help, but Fargo and A Serious Man are my two favorites.

Will this be the highest placed documentary?

― Dan Worsley,

SMS is a documentary?

It's a rockumentary!

Inside Llewyn Davis has quietly become my favourite Coens but loved A Serious Man.

I probably voted for 4 or 5 Coen's, but A Serious Man wasn't one of them, largely owing to the fact that I've still only seen it once.

Gotta add Possession and Sans Soleil to my watchlist from this weekend's entries.

The only other Zulawski I've seen besides Possession is <i>On the Silver Globe,</i> one of the most unrelenting movies I've ever seen in a theater; people screaming for 3 hours on an alien planet.

I've only seen Possession once and need at least one more viewing to sort out thoughts about it. It sure is something. Thought of it while watching Titane this weekend, how much Cannes loves those extreme performances.

I Photoshop Paddington into another movie until I forget: Day 237

Happy #halloween2021 ! pic.twitter.com/shdYHBirXx

— Jaythechou (@jaythechou) October 31, 2021

just look at his face

Take a look at these Cannes.

Pretty certain Sans soleil and A Serious Man would have been on my ballot somewhere. Niiice.

I should see Possession again. I stumbled on it once on TV, with zero context, and mainly remember it becoming way more bonkers than expected lol.

On the weekend I watched the several placers I'd never seen. So... I see a viewing of The Thing in my near future as well!

100 - 61: 1 film I haven't seen
60 - 51: 3 films I haven't seen
50 - 41: 4 films I haven't seen

At this rate the top ten will all be films I've never heard of.

I had no idea that the remake of The Thing had any kind of reputation at all.

the shot at the end with the Yello Man enhances the design

In this household we call him "Dieter".

I've seen every movie here except one: never watched It's a Wonderful Life in full, oddly enough.

That's a good film! Only watched it a few years ago - it's not as iconic on the continent as it is in the Anglosphere - and it works.

so far I've seen 27, not seen 27 and partially seen 6, so lots on the list already.

I've not seen about 10 of these and I definitely won't be going anywhere near the ones I bitched about already. Also don't know why California Split is on this list. So much Altman already.

I’ve seen 52 out of 60, voted for 12 so far. I imagine that voted-for percentage will rise in the top 40.

think ive seen 48 of the 60 so far. dunno which i would have voted for if i'd voted, but theres only a couple that i honestly think have no business being there, so good list so far imo.

revisited possession last month and wanted to dunk on it, until i realized its basically the mad max fury road of divorce movies. like the other better sam neil movie on this list, its just big dumb fun

I've seen 41. No serious complaints so far. The closest thing to a film I actively dislike is The Graduate.

I didn't connect with Marienbad either, but I probably had Kael in my head saying that it wasn't any good.

Seen 30.5. You all watch a lot of movies ;)

(the .5 is that I've seen the SECOND half of The Wicker Man, lol)

it's fine to watch IAWL in chunks. lots of great scenes but the story is so mawkish.

I haven't seen Mirror, Celine and Julie, A Brighter Summer Day, Johnny Guitar, OUATI Anatolia, Showgirls.

I've not seen a handful of these -- Anatolia, Daisies, Crumb and Stop Making Sense.

These are my blindspots so far: Rosemary's Baby, Mandy, A Brighter Summer Day, Celine and Julie Go Boating, California Split, 3 Women, The Maltese Falcon, Possession, The Thing.

i guess i respect anyone who comes away from possession thinking it’s “big dumb fun”

I have more respect for their spouse tbh.

Seen 55 out of 60, tho like somebody upthread I didnt finish 400 blows

Today and tomorrow will probably be the best days for me, a list of 50 can be fairly easily put together from past polls and external best-ofs that might place in the 30s and 40 or might place outside #100 - I suspect by the time we get to 20, there'll only be 20 left to fit.

OK, we've got five Morbs medalists to get to today, so let's get on with it...

Get on with it!

https://cansesclasseled.files.wordpress.com/2021/11/040-the-passion-of-joan-of-arc.jpg

40. THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC (Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1928, Denmark) [833.36 points; 14 votes; Morbs silver]
S&S: 12 | TSPDT: 18 | BOXD: 32

MORBS SEZ: "pre-1930: Intolerance, The Passion of Joan of Arc, The Navigator, Nosferatu, Greed, Easy Street, The Last Laugh, Safety Last, Mikael, Cops" (in the "pretend you have a ballot for the 2012 edition of S&S" thread)

The Passion of Joan of Arc is captivating. Falconetti = w0ah!
― Leee (Leee), Friday, December 6, 2002 5:07 PM

this movie still knocks me on my ass.
― t0dd swiss, Wednesday, November 18, 2009 9:30 PM

I was really moved by that performance by Maria Falconetti in Joan of Arc
― Dan S, Thursday, January 18, 2018 5:25 PM

I watched it twice in a row. I can't get the images out of my head. Warning: silent film, almost all close-ups, like moving portraiture with a narrative. The set is rly cool.
― Fluffy Bear (Fluffy Bear Hearts Rainbows), Friday, May 5, 2006 2:13 PM

ORDET and THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC do things to me that no other films do.
― an incoherent crustacean (MatthewK), Thursday, September 6, 2018 7:14 PM

y'know if only Dreyer had more gore
― hell is auteur people (Noodle Vague), Thursday, January 18, 2018 5:40 PM

seeing 'passion of joan of arc' in a theater is a pretty harrowing experience. an experience that was weirdly complemented by the old guy sitting next to me -- who bore an eerie resemblance to one of the tormenters in the movie -- who kept snorting at every possible moment you could get a chuckle out of. (not many, really.) about a minute after the movie ends, with most of the audience still deadly silent, we hear him say 'i'm still not convinced it's worth owning.'
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Monday, September 17, 2012 2:41 PM

(from "ws of shame" thread)
http://cache2.allpostersimages.com/p/LRG/15/1505/NWGBD00Z/posters/antonin-artaud-in-the-film-the-passion-of-joan-of-arc-by-carl-theodor-dreyer-1928.jpg
― pet carrier (Crabbits), Sunday, September 16, 2012 3:04 PM

Good to see people still think this one whips.

Great start to the week.

omigod J.D.'s comment

not seen this one but Day of Wrath is amazing.