Some of you know me, some of you don't - even so, I figured I'd produce a list of films I consider 5 star movies, just so there's an idea of where I'm coming from with this.
Some films will be denoted with an asterisk - these are films I will not be defending as 5 star films in the comments section. They are movies I really liked for one reason or another, but have obvious flaws.
25th Hour* - Lee - 2002
American History X* - Kaye - 1998
Amores Perros* - Inarritu - 2000
Andrei Rublev - Tarkovsky - 1966
The Asphalt Jungle - Huston - 1950
The Big Lebowski - Coens - 1998
The Bridge On The River Kwai - Lean - 1957
Casino - Scorsese - 1995
Cool Hand Luke - Rosenberg - 1967
Das Boot - Petersen - 1981
The Decalogue - Kieslowski - 1987
Double Indemnity - Wilder - 1944
Fitzcarraldo - Herzog - 1982
The Godfather - Coppola - 1972
The Godfather II - Coppola - 1974
The Godfather III - Just making sure you are paying attention...
Goodfellas - Scorsese - 1990
Groundhog Day - Ramis - 1993
The Hustler - Rossen - 1961
In Bruges* - McDonagh - 2008
Koyaanisqatsi - Reggio - 1983
Monty Python And The Holy Grail* - Gilliam - 1975
Monty Python's Life of Brian - Jones - 1979
Mulholland Drive - Lynch - 2001
Network* - Lumet - 1976
No Country For Old Men - Coens - 2007
On The Waterfront - Kazan - 1954
Ran - Kurosawa - 1985
Rashomon - Kurosawa - 1950
Ronin* - Frankenheimer - 1998
Rope - Hitchcock - 1948
The Seventh Seal - Bergman - 1957
Sunrise - Murnau - 1927
The Third Man - Reed - 1949
Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? - Nichols - 1966
Yojimbo - Kurosawa - 1961
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What about In Bruges did you like so much? I definitely enjoyed that movie, but wouldn't put it in the realm of five out of five.
ReplyDelete(I know you said you wouldn't defend the asterisked choices, but I'm interested. Also, I'd probably have both Network and Amores Perros with five stars, even though I'd also be reluctant to defend the rating.)
I like the film, but I would have to disagree with Cool Hand Luke. I thought Newman's portrayal of that character didn't go deep enough. You had in this story a man that simply would not conform to society's most basic standards of conduct, who couldn't figure out what to do with himself and was at times unbelievably stubborn. Yet I didn't come away feeling many things about Luke. Unlike his fantastic portrayal of Eddie Felson (another individual torn this way and that), Newman never seemed to come all the way around with Luke.
ReplyDeletein bruges i feel like is a perfect movie in a sort of genre that is pretty imperfect. so yeah, the frame story is rather rotten - films about hitmen and jokes about midgets really aren't new or particularly good - but everything really came together in the movie. it's the sort of film there should be more of, so i may just be upgrading it on that account. also something about the hitman preventing his friend's suicide was really, really funny, dark, and struck me as true.
ReplyDeletere: cool hand luke - yeah that's a film i wasn't sure of either. there's just so many great scenes in that movie. newman did never really come together with luke but it's because luke is more of an archetype than a character.
Interesting list. I've been wanting to watch Fitzcarraldo and The Asphalt Jungle for a while now. I'll bump them up my mental queue.
ReplyDeleteIt's obvious to me that you and I watch movies differently, but we still like a lot of the same stuff. I'm not sure what that means. I guess that great movies can appeal to different people for different reasons.
One more thing. I'm trying to avoid potential spoilers (even though there probably isn't one here) so I'll phrase this carefully. Do you know about the connection between Yojimbo and A Fistful of Dollars?
ReplyDeletewell, i wouldn't take what i post here to be 'the way i watch movies' or 'the way i think about movies' either - i'm trying to do three things with this blog: write about movies in an interesting way, avoid spoilers whenever possible, and avoid generalities (i guess that's also #1 but w/e). but i think i get what you mean anyway.
ReplyDeleteas for yojimbo - i've heard from people not you that there is a connection, but i do not know what it is. i've not seen any of the leone films yet (i think you know this) so keep that one under your hat.