best film ranked 1-50 on that film canon list that morbs posted

Vertigo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjT6ARHmASA

8 1/2 or Vertigo.

I think the best/favorite dichotomy gives you an honesty trapdoor. Otherwise you might be inclined to pick the film that makes you look the smartest, as opposed to the one you genuinely like the most. Example: Tho I'm embarrassed to say it, my answer is Casablanca. If I wanted to pick the IMHO best one tho... Potemkin.

― Mordy, Monday, September 7, 2009 6:06 AM (6 hours ago)

casablanca is top 3 for me too

Mordy otm. I can see plenty of films on that list that are "better" than Apocalypse Now. Having chosen that, I feel like I'm sitting in the corner of this thread wearing a dunce cap.

Lucky for me I am just that arrogant and snobbish that I actually derive sensual pleasure from cold, remote works of art.

Would like to see this list polled into mincemeat a la that book of the top 1,001 pop singles.

does anyone else think this is a good idea? or is it going overboard? I feel like not enough people are gonna have seen films 700-750 (etc.) to make this meaningful - but after looking at the list again, maybe not. 50-100 could def be polled.

I'm gung ho on that idea, especially because some of their choices in the last few hundred are so nutty).

i and most other ppl would end up voting for the one film we've seen, but go for it

tbh i feel like the enthusiasm for morbs' thread was kind of an anomaly - don't see more than 15 posts for any of the polls above 100 or so

right, but the marsh singles polls on ilm are not for everyone either

which is to say, I guess I'm asking the film buffs if they're interested

Most polls (including, yeah, the Marsh lists) get a couple dozen votes, so it's not like these would be any different.

not esp, bcz I'm dreading compiling my best films of the '00s already. (ie, worst decade ever)

xp

The 80s will always be the worst decade ever for film.

1880s, I mean.

The General. Having seen it on the big screen with a live orchestral score helps it immensely.

well, sure -- but it's maybe Buster's most atypical film. (also, you need the big screen to see his face most of the time.)

dr. strangelove? chinatown? quite possibly the third man.

but you only named two dude

"Sunrise" for me.

I haven't seen all of them, but of the ones I have seen, probably Dr. Strangelove or Chinatown

Modern Times.

There are a number of these that I like very much (and probably an equal number that I'm completely underwhelmed by), but Chinatown might by my personal favorite. Or maybe Apocalypse Now. Hmm. I might need to sit with this for a minute.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4JpDUMXBqo

more like:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZg8a0nqjTE

The theme brings to mind the whole movie instantly, though. Pour moi.

But yeah, the cuckoo clock speech is the heart of it.

i don't know if it's the best, but Tokyo Story is my favourite.
runners up:
Ordet,Rublev,Stangelove,Vertifo.

all of them i can watch endless times, and always find something new,intersting,clever and exciting.

But Tokyo Story is the most special of the specials, and wathching it is like going threw a perfect meditation session:relaxing,hypnotic, and you end up a happier person.

So I'll be the only one voting for La Dolce Vita? "Marcellooo!"

total pick'em, but i voted enfants du paradis because i saw it for the first time only fairly recently (probably 3 years ago) and i really loved it. so scanning the list, it's the one that gives me the warmest buzz. rest of the shortlist would be rules of the game, singin' in the rain, casablanca, tokyo story. with persona and north by northwest on the bubble.

definitely either casablanca, regle du jeu, chinatown, or the third man. but i voted north by northwest anyway, because who else will?

Just to bump the thread: I voted Chinatown.

Of those I haven't seen, the one I'd most like to is Rashomon.

night of the hunter over rear window and the third man, guess i've got a thing for stylish thrillers

Night of the Hunter! I voted for it too. Then I'd go for Andrei Rublev. Then Sunrise.

Actually, I would have voted for a Herzog film.

dr. strangelove? chinatown? quite possibly the third man.

― call all destroyer, Monday, 7 September 2009 21:16 (2 days ago) Permalink

but you only named two dude

― hope this helps (Granny Dainger), Monday, 7 September 2009 21:21 (2 days ago)

(^_^) (^_^) (^_^) (^_^) (^_^) (^_^) (^_^) (^_^)

My favourite on this list? A toss up between Citizen Kane and It's a Wonderful Life, depending on it being Christmas or not.

Personal favorites:
1 Citizen Kane
2 Vertigo
4 2001: A Space Odyssey
11 Singin' in the Rain
12 Sunrise
13 Lawrence of Arabia
14 Bicycle Thieves
17 Passion of Joan of Arc, The
24 Third Man, The
28 Taxi Driver
29 Sunset Blvd.
47 Rear Window
48 Modern Times

More great movies:
3 Rules of the Game, The
7 Searchers, The
8 Battleship Potemkin
9 Seven Samurai, The
15 Casablanca
16 Atalante, L'
21 Touch of Evil
22 Some Like it Hot
25 Grande illusion, La
30 General, The
31 Enfants du paradis, Les
37 Night of the Hunter, The
39 Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
44 400 Blows, The
46 Blade Runner

Movies I like, but I don't consider great:
6 Godfather, The
23 City Lights
27 Gold Rush, The
32 Psycho
33 Breathless
35 Apocalypse Now
36 Chinatown
40 Persona
42 Jules et Jim
49 North by Northwest

Movies that aren't my thing, but definitely have their merits:
10 Tokyo Story
18 Raging Bull
19 Rashomon
20 Godfather Part II, The
34 Ordet
38 Avventura, L'
50 Strada, La

Bad movies:
5 8½
26 Dolce vita, La
45 It's a Wonderful Life

The ones I need to watch again:
41 Andrei Rublev
43 Magnificent Ambersons, The

Chewshabadoo and abanana - can you tell me why you like Citizen Kane, not why it's good, or great or whatever?

I find its continued status mystifying. Like it being "the best film of all time" is a thing in itself, separate from the movie or any viewer, like the Mona Lisa.

casablanca, third man and singin in the rain all edged out by godfather II, but i need to see so many more of these.

anyone who thinks IAWL is a "bad movie" and blade runner a "great" one is high, sorry.

I really don't understand the disdain for Blade Runner. I really don't have any interest in talking about film, music, or pretty much anything else, with someone who just dismisses Blade Runner as less than a great film, especially without any reason - like it's such a given that it's a lesser film that it doesn't even deserve an argument against it. What exactly is a "great" film if Blade Runner isn't? Blade Runner was an extremely ambitious, epic, film that accomplished exactly what the creators wanted it to (even if it did take three director's cuts to completely get there), and it made a big impact on our culture: Its influence is still present in many current movies, books, games, comics, and music. (More so than a few of these other movies, I dare say.) I can't think of a less subjective way of defining "great" than that.

I haven't voted in this poll, or the other one, because I haven't seen all of the movies, but if I was going to knee-jerk vote for my favorite, which is what the poll creator asks for, I wouldn't think twice about voting for Blade Runner. I loved it when I had the old VHS copy with the bad voice-over, I loved the first director's cut, and I love the recent restored "final cut" most of all. This movie has been on my top 5 all-time favorite list since I first saw it on TV when I was 13 or so.

I don't expect people to like everything I do, but I hope they would at least recognize the craft that went into it if they don't want me to just write them off as an elitist jerk and cease any further interaction with them. For what it's worth, I really like It's a Wonderful Life, and every other movie on this list that I've seen. Rear Window would probably be my #2.

Blade Runner is a high achievement in set design and visual effects, as well as establishing mood, and having a far above-average science fiction plot. It's needlessly slow in places, though. That's my objection to it, if I have one.

"Craft" is a pretty good description of Blade Runner, actually.

I don't *dislike* Blade Runner and I think that w/r/t set design, setting and characters it's a super memorable movie, but 'needlessly slow in places' + (imo) the whole philosophical deeper meaning/'is he a replicant' aspect is not super interesting as far as sci fi goes.

I'm sure a lot of these movies are needlessly slow in places to some people. I love the fact that Blade Runner takes its time and lets you soak in the music and atmosphere. The scene where he comes home from the big chase scene, with Rachel, and drinks the liquor, and the blood mixes with it, and the light from the sunset shows through his blinds - that scene can go on forever as far as I'm concerned.

yeah, as a movie experience, blade runner is as much or more about creating and existing inside its world as it is about the details of its plot and characters. i think it's the most immersive, coherent, fully imagined sci-fi film since metropolis. for everything that it's obviously influenced since, nothing else has come close to it.

+ (imo) the whole philosophical deeper meaning/'is he a replicant' aspect is not super interesting as far as sci fi goes.

I don't mind the "Decker is a replicant" thing, though it seems like a twist where nobody asked for one. But the larger issue of hating your maker for designing something as flawed as yourself is better than science fiction, it's mythic, biblical even.

Of course I know, it's all about presentation when you're dealing with the mythic. But I think it's obvious that it's a much better film than Star Wars. If it's pitched a little higher than it can be made to resonate, well, you can't fault the effort.

IT'S TOO BAD SHE WON'T LIVE. BUT THEN AGAIN, WHO DOES.

I give BR lots of points for worldbuilding, but narrative-wise parts of it are clunky.

Hah yeah pretty clearly Andrei Rublev got that zero much more from laziness than from okayness.

lolz @ 2001 being both best AND (well almost) worst

Le Strada's allright but honestly I prefer Nights of Cabiria

seems logical that four of the top five films were directed either by Hitchcock or Kubrick, given the results of this poll:

who is yr favourite director of the most popular ones from the best films list that morbs posted?

who is yr favourite director of the most popular ones from the best films list that morbs posted?

the fact that the final human < superhuman evolution in "2001" comes through an act of transubstantiation, guided by a higher power, always blows my mind. It requires seeing on a very big screen and being very stoned...

xpost yes, a pattern has clearly emerged

2001? really? i am sorry, but you people suck.

ugh.

Amazing and lovely.

It is picking ONE of these that sucks

Hey, my pick got second place, nice!

Chinatown/Vertigo would be a helluva double bill!

comes through an act of transubstantiatio

it does? I didn't notice any catholic shit in 2001

Adrian Martin on a Star Wars canon, the old canon, the new canon

Canons favour an *organic* aesthetics – they valorise whole, entire films as perfect objects. This leaves no room for imperfect films, or brilliant bits or fragments of films. And we all know there are many films that are great for just ten minutes, maybe just for one scene.

Canons valorise singular masterpieces over bodies or corpuses of work. But there is no single great masterpiece to be plucked from the careers of many important and influential directors, including Fassbinder, Pasolini and Preston Sturges.

… In short, canons simply ignore too many good, important, significant and pleasurable movies. But what, realistically, is the alternative? I recall a story by Jorge Luis Borges in which fanatical mapmakers create a map of their territory so precise, true and big that it covers the whole territory. And I sometimes think that this is what the best canon of cinema would be: the cinema itself, whole and entire.

But, of course, nobody’s grasp of cinema could ever actually happen in that kind of impossibly holistic, total way. We can’t just go out and see everything, alas! What any of us understands of cinema depends, at every moment, on material, social and political factors: what films are available, or lost; what films are in circulation and in which format (celluloid, video, DVD, etc); what decisions are being made by those in power concerning which available films audiences will actually get to see, where and for how long.

http://www.filmcritic.com.au/essays/canons.html