The Top 376 Films Of All Time So Far, Mostly Ten By Ten

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

Those reading this thread and/or posting are all encouraged to predict which films will crack the top ten, or which ten you want to see make it that high.

250. Of Mice and Men (1992)
249. Safety Last! (1923)
248. Bugsy Malone (1976)
247. Outbreak (1995)
246. Extreme Prejudice (1987)
245. Forbidden Planet (1956)
244. Heat (1995)
243. From Here to Eternity (1953)
242. Gas, Food Lodging (1992)
241. Magic (1978)

MAGIC's TV trailer may be the scariest ever.

 

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

Or those of you of you who objected to X-MEN 3 might give one reason why you found it wanting, as I gave ten why I did not. No pressure. Either way, moving on.....

240. The Living Daylights (1987)
239. The Yakuza (1975)
238. Speed (1994)
237. Un Chien Andalou (1928)
236. Airplane! (1980)
235. From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)
234. Toy Soldiers (1991)
233. Iron Man (2008)
232. Night of the Living Dead (1968)
231. The Towering Inferno (1974)

Number 237 is definitely the shortest of the 376, and Number 234 has one of the most all-out exciting, best-edited endings of all time.

 

[Starkers]

Nice to see The Living Daylights there...

As for Last Stand. I didn't hate it, and it has some good bits; in particular the whole Magneto/Mystique angle, which gains more poignancy after First Class I think, and the notion that Rogue volunteers to lose her powers. But it has a lot of low points. Characters are just tossed aside or have minimal screen time/disappear for long periods of time; I'm thinking Cyclops, Mystique, Rogue here. Or they don't show up at all; Nightcrawler. It's quite telling that Rogue and Mystique have some of the most interesting story elements yet are barely in the film. That is not a good sign.

Grammer and Page are both good but these aside none of the new characters stand out, apart from Vinny Jones for all the wrong reasons, and the fight at the end is supposed to be epic, yet is just a tad boring. The trouble is all the angry young mutants...well they just look like a bunch of hoodies, they're a bland homogenous mess so it's hard to get excited. It's like watching a riot rather than an epic battle between super powered mutants.

Oh yeah, and the whole plastic Stewart/McKellan at the start is just freaky beyond belief.

On the plus side it's better than the Wolverine film...

 

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

Excellent point on Nightcrawler. He was a solid asset to the second film, and it was admittedly moronic not to explain in X3 where the hell he went to. We probably wouldn't have had the Beast appear if Nightcrawler had stayed. Alan Cumming wanted out of the contract.

While Cyclops was taken out of the action quite early, I appreciated the surprise factor despite my being a Cyclops fan. And I think Xavier's farewell scene is as great as it gets for Marvel. Still, I wouldn't resurrect HIM at the end. It almost spoils the earlier scene.

Lastly, I think Storm is ridiculously off-base when she tells Rogue ''nothing is wrong with you'' and she doesn't need to be cured. Excuse me, she's cursed to solitude and will kill anyone who gets close to her. That qualifies as way wrong and hell yes to her being cured.

So......how come I keep forgetting whether Rogue actually goes through with the cure or not? If she didn't........what possible benefit is there for her to absorb other people's memories and powers?

Otherwise, no major beefs with the movie.

 

[Starkers]

She went through with it as I recall, and yeah Storm annoyed the hell out of me with that statement as well.

As far as I can tell they felt Nightcrawler would possibly detract from Beast. Also I know it was a lot of makeup for Cumming.

 

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

To have two blue-furred good guys in the same film would probably be voted as too redundant. Oh, well.

I believe the LAST STAND deleted scenes on its DVD has Rogue deciding last-minute to refuse the cure. Enjoy your solitary life, baby.

Later tonight, the next batch.

 

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

230. Dawn of the Dead (1978)
229. Matewan (1987)
228. Dick Tracy (1990)
227. Snatch (2001)
226. The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
225. The Fifth Element (1997)
224. The Hidden (1987)
223. The Parallax View (1974)
222. The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)
221. A Tale of Two Cities (1935)

 

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

This is how Robert Neville must often feel.

220. Blue Thunder (1983)
219. Jungle Fever (1991)
218. My Darling Clementine (1946)
217. Return to Oz (1985)
216. The Flight of the Phoenix (1965)
215. Southern Comfort (1981)
214. Total Recall (1990)
213. You Only Live Twice (1967)
212. Sharky's Machine (1981)
211. Starship Troopers (1997)

Number 217 is one of the most underrated movies in US history.
Its first defender seemed to be Harlan Ellison.

 

[Skellington]

^ Its second may have been the Scissor Sisters.

 

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

There's one I missed thus far. Would that fall under '70s action exploitation or modern Asian horror?

210. Dead Again (1991)
209. Elephant (2003)
208. Black Snake Moan (2007)
207. Mad Max (1979)
206. The Fury (1978)
205. Michael Clayton (2007)
204. Metropolis (1927)
203. Yentl (1983)
202. Gran Torino (2008)
201. Lifeboat (1944)

 

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

I N T E R M I S S I O N

 

[Amaris]

I B U R N E D D O W N T H E T H E A T E R

 

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

True. But I always carry a spare.

200. Cliffhanger (1993)
199. Galaxy Quest (1999)
198. Die Another Day (2002)
197. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
196. William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet (1996)
195. Series 7: The Contenders (2001)
194. State of Grace (1990)
193. Kick-Ass (2010)
192. The Hurt Locker (2009)
191. Rain Man (1988)

CLIFFHANGER has one of the best theatrical trailers ever.....

 

[Starkers]

The Long Kiss Goodnight has the greatest trailer ever! It looked like this syrupy 'woman overcomes adversity and disability to raise her cute kids' kind of film...then the shooting started

The only other trailer that's suprised me as much was the Dog Soldiers one, because it was done in the style of British Army recruitment ads at the time, for a few seconds I thought it was such an ad...then a werewolf showed up!

 

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

In that case, I'd expect you'd enjoy------or already have laughed over------the ridiculous Edward Norton/Brad Pitt mock public service announcement trailers for FIGHT CLUB.

Tonight we are over halfway home, following these ten.

190. Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)
189. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
188. The Ice Storm (1997)
187. Die Hard 2 (1990)
186. The Last of the Mohicans (1992)
185. Kill Bill, Vol. 1 (2003)
184. F/X (1986)
183. Get on the Bus (1996)
182. Terms of Endearment (1983)
181. Return of the Jedi (1983)

After Debra Winger's character quietly died in TERMS, my mother made it another 18 years until 2001. But when she died as I was holding her hand, it was just as quiet and took me many minutes to comprehend it as well. Still, TERMS was always a solid favorite of mine since 1987.

 

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

180. Dead Ringers (1988)
179. The Village (2004)
178. Rope (1948)
177. To Live and Die in L.A. (1985)
176. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
175. Con Air (1997)
174. High Noon (1952)
173. Nighthawks (1981)
172. The Battleship Potemkin (1925)
171. Glory (1989)

Sandra Bernhard had it right. Without you I am nothing.

 

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

170. Poltergeist (1982)
169. Year of the Dragon (1985)
168. Gone Baby Gone (2007)
167. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)
166. Modern Times (1936)
165. The Hunt for Red October (1990)
164. The Great Escape (1963)
163. Lions for Lambs (2007)
162. Dark Star (1974)
161. The Red Balloon (1956)

This is not the time for Skittles photo-ops. Cameras or not, put them away. Enough talk of million-hoodie marches. Don't trivialize this young man's death with cutesy demonstrations with clothes and candy. All that matters is that he, for all accounts thus far an innocent law-abiding teenager, was unjustly pursued and killed. That is what needs focusing on. He didn't beat up a classmate at random with five of his friends. There's a difference.

 

[Harvey]

I've seen Dark Star twice, and it's fun, but I would never rank it above either of the Trek films that Nicholas Meyer directed. It's mostly interesting as a prototype for better things to come from Dan O'Bannon (screenwriter of Alien) and John Carpenter (director of The Thing).

Also, Lions for Lambs is garbage masquerading as a movie with some sort of political relevance. Although it was also (at times) heavy-handed, Paul Haggis' In The Valley of Elah had much more to say about the War in Iraq than Redford's film, and it was set almost entirely stateside!

 

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

It also had an extra-effective performance by Tommy Lee Jones. And yet, even when an actor is extra-good, sometimes American audiences give him or her less attention...

With LIONS FOR LAMBS, I particularly appreciated the Tom Cruise/Meryl Streep segments as well as the Robert Redford/Andrew Garfield plot. I enjoyed both parts because I tend to be a sucker for ''debating society'' story ideas. As we go higher in this list, you'll see more examples of this preference from time to time.

Less seriously, don't you feel the presence of DARK STAR's alien beachball is a clear improvement upon TREKs Two and Six?

160. The Hill (1965)
159. Dirty Harry (1971)
158. Doubt (2008) (See what I mean? Streep debates again.)
157. The Mummy (1999)
156. Taps (1981)
155. Gunga Din (1939)
154. The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)
153. The Birds (1963)
152. Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984)
151. The Producers (1968)

 

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

150. The Miracle Worker (1962)
149. The Firm (1993)
148. Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and
Love the Bomb (1964)
147. All That Jazz (1979)
146. Westworld (1973)
145. Network (1976)
144. Trespass (1992)
143. Casablanca (1943)
142. Capricorn One (1978)
141. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

The new Indonesian thriller THE RAID: REDEMPTION is thematically similar to TRESPASS. And fightingly similar to ENTER THE DRAGON.