Party Like It's...

As per discussion last night, a probably incomplete list of the notable films of 1999, one of the great years in modern cinema:

The Insider
Toy Story 2
The Straight Story
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
All About My Mother
Three Kings
Run Lola Run
American Movie
Being John Malkovich
The Limey
Election
Go
American Beauty
Boys Don't Cry
The Matrix
Magnolia
The Sixth Sense
Fight Club
South Park: Bigger, Longer, Uncut
Sweet and Lowdown
Office Space
Titus
Dancer in the Dark
The Cradle Will Rock
Special Bonus Mention: Galaxy Quest

Time For the Real List

Top 100 Films (In no particular order except number 1)

1 The Godfather
2 The Godfather Part II
3 Apocalypse Now
4 Goodfellas
5 Raging Bull
6 Taxi Driver
7 Paths of Glory
8 Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb
9 A Clockwork Orange
10 Platoon
11 Do the Right Thing
12 Manhattan
13 Hannah and Her Sisters
14 The Graduate
15 Double Indemnity
16 One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
17 Casablanca
18 The Maltese Falcon
19 Pulp Fiction
20 Citizen Kane
21 The Third Man
22 The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
23 Unforgiven
24 The Manchurian Candidate
25 Rashomon
26 LA Confidential
27 The Right Stuff
28 Lawrence of Arabia
29 The Silence of the Lambs
30 The Hustler
31 The Seventh Seal
32 Fargo
33 Duck Soup
34 Psycho
35 Vertigo
36 Chinatown
37 Rosemary’s Baby
38 Pathar Panchali
39 The Empire Strikes Back
40 Nashville
41 Open City
42 Lone Star
43 The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
44 The Apartment
45 Jules and Jim
46 On the Waterfront
47 The Shawshank Redemption
48 Sunset Boulevard
49 Bonnie and Clyde
50 The Grapes of Wrath
51 The Insider
52 Brind Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
53 Ed Wood
54 Boogie Nights
55 Yojimbo
56 Blue Velvet
57 The Sweet Hereafter
58 Badlands
59 The Wild Bunch
60 Singin’ in the Rain
61 12 Monkeys
62 Broadcast News
63 Cool Hand Luke
64 Some Like It Hot
65 Full Metal Jacket
66 Rushmore
67 Blade Runner
68 Miller’s Crossing
69 Seven Samurai
70 Once Upon a Time in the West
71 The Big Lebowski
72 The Last Waltz
73 Mulholland Drive
74 Touch of Evil
75 JFK
76 King Kong
77 Malcolm X
78 Tokyo Story
79 Network
80 The Gold Rush
81 McCabe & Mrs. Miller
82 The Last Emperor
83 The Last Picture Show
84 Out of the Past
85 Carnal Knowledge
86 Crimes and Misdemeanors
87 The 400 Blows
88 The Battle of Algiers
89 Body Heat
90 Raiders of the Lost Ark
91 The Sweet Smell of Success
92 Battleship Potemkin
93 The Bicycle Thief
94 The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
95 M
96 The Deer Hunter
97 Floating Weeds
98 Mean Streets
99 Amadeus
100 Ran

Time's 100

Time Magazine just put out their take on the top 100 movies of all time.

See the List

A few quick thoughts:

1. It seems very early to put City of God and Finding Nemo on a best of all time list. Finding Nemo I could almost see an argument for, but I still take Toy Story 2 over any other Pixar movie.

2. Ikiru over Seven Samurai...Aaron and I watched Ikiru about a year ago, and I remember coming away pleased but not enthralled. Dubious choice in my view, even if it is universally beloved by critics.

3. Barry Lyndon over Clockwork Orange and Paths of Glory is bold. Haven't seen BL so I can't offer a real opinion.

4. The Fly? Lord of the Rings?

5. Nice to see Miller's Crossing getting some respect.

6. The Shop Around the Corner over The Third Man? Oy!

7. No Altman in the top 100 is an absolute crime. Especially considering that Spielberg's in there with ET and Schindler's List.

Gordon Willis, Camera Killer

An interesting read about Gordy's visit to a cinematographer's union event and a subsequent interview with the master. Is there really no project that can interest him anymore? Sad.

Gordon Willis Speaks

Cannes-do

So the Word on the Street is that Match Point, the new Woody Allen film that just debuted at Cannes, is his best movie since Crimes and Misdemeanors. I've read this now from three different sources, all of whom have seen the film and all of whom I consider to be objective about the Woodster, so I'm allowing myself to get excited. The world needs more great Allen films.

How many movies did you see this weekend?

I saw five.

At home:

Hannah and Her Sisters- Since getting both Marx Bros. box sets for my birthday, I have ended many an awful day with their hilarious antics and found, like Woody Allen in HAHS, that, if for no other reason, life is worth living for the Marx Brothers.

Cool Hand Luke- Even after just one viewing I can confidently say that there are few moments in cinema history better than Paul Newman, upon hearing of his mother's death, playing the banjo and singing Plastic Jesus with tears rolling down his cheek.

Sour Grapes- This is a comedy (if a film with no funny moments can be classified as such) written and directed by the great Larry David right around the peak of Seinfeld's popularity. An unbelievable disaster, were it not made by Larry David I would not even have forced myself to suffer through until the end.

At the cinema:

Crash- Though I wouldn't argue that it is entirely flawless, this film pulled me in and wrapped me up so tightly that its my frontrunner for the #1 slot on my best of '05 list. At 52, Haggis took his time to make his directorial debut but sure packed a punch when he did. Though most critics are comparing it to Grand Canyon, Short Cuts, and Magnolia, I think its closer to Traffic but about racism instead of drugs. I hope its remembered a year from now at the oscars, Cheadle and Dillon certainly deserve to be in the race for best supporting actor.

Kingdom of Heaven- It was heading for an Isaac recommendation until it set the story and characters aside and closed with 40 mins or so of useless battle scenes, and finished up at nicely mediocre. Still though, Ridley Scott makes damn gorgeous epics, I'd say he included 85% more richness in each image than your typical epic. Orlando Bloom, while toning down the annoyance factor, is still the unsurpassed master of bland. Importantly, this is our first look at a William Monahan screenplay, his three other screenplays in production are Scott's next film, Scorcese's next film, and Jurassic Park 4. I'd say he's capable, but far from sensational.

Hannah, Her Sisters, and Seb's Ass

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun Times calls Woody Allen's Hannah and Her Sisters "the best movie he has ever made." Sebastian Passanisi was overheard, in a conversation with a biker scout fan, saying that the film "kicked [his] ass and called [him] Suzie." I kick Seb's ass and call him Suzie almost every day but here I believe he was speaking figuratively. As I watch Woody Allen's movies again, they each become the best movie I've ever seen. In conclusion, I highly recommend that everyone see the new Hilary Duff film, The Perfect Man, where comparisons to Hannah and Her Sisters are sure to abound.

The Rise and Fall of the Nebbish Empire

Emanuel Levy charts Woody Allen's rapid ascension and gradual decline. It's not the world's best written article, but it's still an interesting read, which makes it a natural fit on this blog.

http://www.emanuellevy.com/article.php?articleID=226

Interesting to note that Allen seems to be moving the locale of his films to London. Will his sensibilities play any better there, I wonder?

Levy makes a very good point that the core element missing from Allen's latest work his been the man himself. Allen is a very talented - perhaps vastly underrated? - leading man, one whose imprint has been so distinct that all his personal avatars to follow - Branagh, Biggs, Ferrell, etc. - has felt compelled to mimicry (and it is not as if these men all have similar presences when they are not in Allen films, either).

Waiting Is the Hardest Part

For several weeks now I've been avoiding watching the trailer for "Crash," the new Paul Haggis movie, in order to walk into the theater knowing as little about it as possible. I read the first paragraph of a glowing review in the New Yorker, I've seen the poster, and I got a thumbs-up on the trailer from Mike, and that's all I plan to know before Friday.

Trailers are funny. I'm easily irritated at the superfast cuts and unintelligible editing of most modern trailers, but in reality they often are the best at not revealing critical plot details or entire swaths of narrative before you see the movie. The trailer for "The Interpreter" was one that bugged me for how much it showed of the movie's action and story, especially of the bus bomb sequence (I read a number of reviews complaining about how much the second Interpreter trailer gave away of this supposedly excellent sequence - any word, Mike?). A few days ago, Mike and I watched "Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia," then watched the trailer for the film after it was over. I was surprised by how much of the ending one could guess from the trailer, and how much better off we were for not having seen it prior to the film.

Despite all this, trailers are still one of my favorite experiences when I go to the movies. I love em, and always will. It's just sad that the ones that are the best in the long term are the ones that make it seem like you're watching an MTV rap video while sitting on the remote control's fast forward button.