Fantaverse Top 100 Movies of All Time (Thread #11): The #1s

[numbersix]

Sadly, NSpan, I haven't seen your #1. And that's a real disappointment for me. Especially because it's a film from a director I regard as one of the best in the last decade or so. Every Wes Anderson film, even the disappointing Darjeeling Ltd, has something special to behold. So why I've never seen Bottle Rocket I'll never know. I tried to tape it from TV one time and it didn't work. I should just download it one of these days. If it's anyway as good as the rest of his films, I'll love it. It's certainly top of my Must See list be default!

Overall, your list was rather fascinating. If there's one thing I can say about it, it's that it's totally unique to who you are. You had no problem with mixing the sublime and the ridiculous, the avante garde and the salt of the earth. But I really appreciate that. It's honest. It also helps that I liked a hell of a lot of them. Out of the films I have seen, 24 of them are in my Top 100. And in general your list was so good that you average 7.2, placing you 4th out of everyone. It was great to see someone else realise the brilliance of 8 1/2, as well as some of Woody Allen's greats, like Hannah and her Sisters and Sweet and Low-Down. Don't get why you have the Tenacious D movie or Four Rooms up there - I found very little to like about either, but each to his own. You're also a fan of Jarmusch, who I'm split about (is he an unique voice in US cinema or a pretentious turd? He has films on both sides of the divide). But I should see his earlier stuff like Down by Law and Stranger than Paradise first. I've seen roughly 81 of the films on your list, meaning there's 19 films I'm curious about. Some just don't seem like my sort of thing (The Stoned Age and stoner comedies in general never blew me away) and others are pretty high on my list (Bottle Rocket, Nashville). But overall a great list and I'm glad you participated!

[Shrykespeare]

Spanny, I am heartened by the fact that, although our musical tastes diverged more than anyone else's at least our cinematic tastes were slightly more in tune. Yes, I've only seen 42 of your 100, but we had 13 overlaps which was more than I was expecting. It's awesome that you had The Secret of NIMH (even at #100) and Fletch, two films near the top of my own list, as you were the only other person to pick these films. I saw Defendor on your recommendation, and while I didn't love it near as much as you, it was an interesting view.

Overlaps (13):
100. The Secret of NIMH
94. Ghost Busters
56. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
54. Wall-E
44. The Terminator
42. The Princess Bride
36. Fletch
32. Se7en
23. Aliens
19. Back to the Future
16. Die Hard
9. Raiders of the Lost Ark
5. Star Wars: A New Hope

Loved (10):
85. Moon
78. Total Recall
73. Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
68. Full Metal Jacket
49. Clue
39. Monty Python and the Life of Brian
11. Pulp Fiction
8. Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
6. Caddyshack
4. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Liked (17):
93. Pee-Wee's Big Adventure
88. Ferris Bueller's Day Off
87. Idiocracy
86. Young Guns
79. Tombstone
76. Rocky
60. The Godfather
58. Willow
57. Young Guns II
55. Fargo
48. Defendor
46. ¡Three Amigos!
41. The Shining
40. National Lampoon's Vacation
24. Primer
21. Reservoir Dogs
20. Beetlejuice

Hated (2):
45. Children of Men
30. Grindhouse

Movies that I've seen bits of or it's been so long I don't remember them:
80. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
77. Taxi Driver
74. M*A*S*H
70. Raising Arizona
61. Dr. Strangelove
34. Mad Max
22. Goodfellas

Movies that I plan to see before the year is out:
33. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
28. The Big Lebowski
26. Office Space
2. Brazil

[BanksIsDaFuture]

Have to give it up to NSpan for being the only other person to have Clue in their Top 100.

WHOO!!!!

[Shrykespeare]

Guys, before I post my #1 film of all time, let me just thank you all once again for your participation. Just like the music countdown, this has been a lot of fun. Obviously, there was a lot more common ground here than on the music because crossovers were inevitable, but it's good to see that a great portion of my list overlapped at least one other person's list. 62 of my Top 100 were chosen by other people, as opposed to, if I remember correctly, only about 10 of my songs. I, like a few others, chose the films that I enjoyed the most and would watch again (as opposed to films that may indeed be truly "great" but don't necessarily merit numerous repeat watchings). If it weren't for this list, I wouldn't have the impetus to get off my duff (or, actually, get ON my duff) and watch films like Fight Club, Snatch, The Big Lebowski, Oldboy, Shaun of the Dead, Office Space, and a few others. Based solely on the recommendations of others, I've already watched Boondock Saints, Reservoir Dogs and Defendor. I may not get round to watching ALL of the collective Top 100 that I haven't already seen, but I will check out a goodly portion of it.


Here, once again:

Shrykespeare's Top 100

100. The Fugitive
99. Aladdin
98. A Few Good Men
97. Accepted
96. Payback
95. Bruce Almighty
94. L.A. Confidential
93. Flushed Away
92. Fantastic Four
91. The Terminator
90. POTC: Curse of the Black Pearl
89. Angel Heart
88. Better Off Dead…
87. The Green Mile
86. Mystery Men
85. The Mummy
84. Inglourious Basterds
83. Shrek
82. Eagle Eye
81. Dave
80. Copycat
79. District 9
78. Cars
77. Bloodsport
76. Raiders of the Lost Ark
75. In the Line of Fire
74. Back to the Future
73. Con Air
72. A Bug's Life
71. The Fifth Element
70. A Fish Called Wanda
69. The Arrival
68. Chicken Run
67. Diggstown
66. Saw
65. Monsters vs. Aliens
64. The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
63. LOTR: The Two Towers
62. The Blind Side
61. Horton Hears a Who!
60. Batman Begins
59. Enemy Mine
58. Men in Black
57. Charlie Wilson's War
56. Matchstick Men
55. Ladyhawke
54. 300
53. Beverly Hills Cop
52. To Kill a Mockingbird
51. The Pelican Brief
50. Speed
49. Aliens
48. Ocean's Eleven
47. TCON: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
46. The Thing
45. The Princess Bride
44. The Abyss
43. True Believer
42. Braveheart
41. Clash of the Titans
40. Toy Story 3
39. Se7en
38. Terminator 2: Judgment Day
37. LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring
36. Planes, Trains and Automobiles
35. Executive Decision
34. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
33. Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
32. Sneakers
31. Ratatouille
30. Die Hard: With a Vengeance
29. Weird Science
28. Star Wars: Return of the Jedi
27. The Matrix
26. Liar Liar
25. Die Hard
24. Real Genius
23. Big Trouble in Little China
22. I, Robot
21. Wall-E
20. Ghost Busters
19. The Professional (aka Leon)
18. UHF
17. Kill Bill Vol. I
16. The Secret of NIMH
15. Fletch
14. Predator
13. The Breakfast Club
12. The Shawshank Redemption
11. Unbreakable
10. Lucky Number Slevin
9. LOTR: The Return of the King
8. Star Trek
7. How to Train Your Dragon
6. The Incredibles
5. V For Vendetta
4. The Dark Knight
3. Star Wars: A New Hope
2. Monty Python and the Holy Grail


And my #1 Film of All Time:

The Usual Suspects (1995) - Director: Bryan Singer; starring Gabriel Byrne, Stephen Baldwin, Benecio Del Toro, Kevin Spacey, Kevin Pollak, Chazz Palminteri, Pete Postlethwaite, Giancarlo Esposito, Suzy Amis and Dan Hedaya.

I'm a sucker for twist endings, especially if they are ones that I never see coming, and never was that more true than in The Usual Suspects. I had barely heard of the film when it blew through theaters (it was never shown in more than 876 theaters in one week, can you believe it?!), and didn't even bat an eyebrow when it won two Academy Awards the following year, one for best Screenplay and one for Best Supporting Actor for Kevin Spacey. I just happened to be channel-surfing one night in the late '90s (I forget exactly when) when I sleepily turned on this movie. I was fighting fatigue that night, but something about this film just drew me right in. I may have nodded off for a few brief minutes a couple of times, but by the time the climactic assault on the freighter occurred, I was rapt in attention. And when that awesome twist is revealed, coupled with Palminteri dropping his coffee mug in slow-motion as he - and we - realize just WTF is going on, my jaw just hit the floor, like no film's ending has ever done to me before. I was amazed. So you know what I did? Ran to the nearest Blockbuster, rented it and watched it again that same night. And again the next day. I don't think any film outside of Star Wars (which I saw when I had the benefit of a child's imaginaton) had ever affected me this much. It was then that I realized how entertaining a well-written, captivating story could be. And no film has been able to make that big an impression on me since (though Lucky Number Slevin came darn close).

The acting is top-notch, from Gabriel Byrne as the tough-as-nails Dean Keaton on down, with special mention going to Stephen Baldwin (whose performances can usually be relied upon to be terrible at best), the late, great Pete Postlethwaite (whose chilling portrayal of Kobayashi was maybe the most memorable of the film), and Kevin Spacey himself, playing the unassuming role of crippled con-man Verbal Kint. But the biggest kudos go to Singer and his flawless direction of this film and to Chris McQuarrie for crafting a story that, had it been written 50-odd years ago, could have been another amazing vehicle for the likes of James Cagney or Edward G. Robinson. How ironic that the title is a direct reference to a line from Casablanca, easily one of Hollywood's most iconic films.

I don't know if I was ever a big fan of the "crime drama" genre before this film, but I sure was one after it. I doubt anything will ever come along to top it. It is, quite simply, one of the most perfectly-written stories of all time. And that ENDING...

The Trailer:


The Opening Scene:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6msq8mgdnE

The Ending: (DO NOT WATCH IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT!!):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBrwUGdbODA
(sorry about the shitty audio quality)


So that's it. Another countdown cometh to an end. Starting tomorrow, I'll begin the countdown of our Collective Top 100.

Excelsior!

[BanksIsDaFuture]

If there's one thing I would do differently in my film watching history, I would have avoided spoilers for The Usual Suspects like the plague before I watched it.

It's a great film, even when you know the ending, but I can only imagine how mindblowing it was NOT knowing the ending.

[undeadmonkey]

If there's one thing I would do differently in my film watching history, I would have avoided spoilers for The Usual Suspects like the plague before I watched it.

It's a great film, even when you know the ending, but I can only imagine how mindblowing it was NOT knowing the ending.

i agree completely

[JohnErle]

I loved the Usual Suspects at the time, but re-watchability was a major factor in my list and for me it's not a movie that works as well once you know the ending. But as a one-time experience it was terrific.

[englishozzy]

Shryke

Overall you were second behind Tranny in the amount of movies on your list that i have seen. It was an impressive list and i am glad to see someone else appreciate Toy Story 3 and How to Train Your Dragon. Will be definately be taking my time to sit down and watch films such as The Usual Suspects, The Terminator Series and The Professional. Here are my scores that i gave to you;

100. The Fugitive 7/10
99. Aladdin 9/10
95. Bruce Almighty 9/10
93. Flushed Away 5/10
92. Fantastic Four 5/10
90. POTC: Curse of the Black Pearl 9/10
87. The Green Mile 9/10
85. The Mummy 7/10
84. Inglourious Basterds 8/10
83. Shrek 7/10
82. Eagle Eye 7/10
79. District 9 8/10
78. Cars 8/10
76. Raiders of the Lost Ark 8/10
74. Back to the Future 9/10
72. A Bug's Life 7/10
71. The Fifth Element 7/10
66. Saw 9/10
65. Monsters vs. Aliens 9/10
63. LOTR: The Two Towers 8/10
61. Horton Hears a Who! 7/10
60. Batman Begins 10/10
58. Men in Black 8/10
50. Speed 8/10
49. Aliens 7/10
48. Ocean's Eleven 8/10
42. Braveheart 10/10
40. Toy Story 3 10/10
39. Se7en 9/10
37. LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring 8/10
33. Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story 7/10
31. Ratatouille 7/10
30. Die Hard: With a Vengeance 8/10
27. The Matrix 10/10
26. Liar Liar 10/10
25. Die Hard 10/10
22. I, Robot 7/10
21. Wall-E 8/10
17. Kill Bill Vol. I 8/10
14. Predator 7/10
12. The Shawshank Redemption 10/10
11. Unbreakable 7/10
10. Lucky Number Slevin 8/10
9. LOTR: The Return of the King 8/10
8. Star Trek 8/10
7. How to Train Your Dragon 8/10
6. The Incredibles 7/10
5. V For Vendetta 8/10
4. The Dark Knight 8/10
2. Monty Python and the Holy Grail 8/10

Movies seen: 50
Movie Average: 8.04

[transformers2]

Since i've been lazy with leaving comments,averages,overlaps etc. I am going to go back and do that 5 members at time starting right now with surfer,JohnErle,Barca,W and Banks.

Surfer
Movies seen: 32
Overlaps: 18
Avg: 7.9

Surfer there is a lot of classics and other fare I haven't seen on your list. That Being said, over half of what i've seen on your list is on mine! Your average would have a lot higher if it wasn't for the Tim Burton films on your list. That really dragged down your average.

JohnErle
Movies seen: 26
Overlaps: 7
Avg: 7

Another list I haven't seen much from and there were actually quite a few films that I can't stand on this list. As of right now, you have the most ratings below 5 out of any ones list. A majority of our overlaps were very high on my list though.

Barca
Movies seen: 47
Overlaps: 27
Avg: 8.9

Barca what i've seen from your list I highly enjoyed. The lowest rating I gave a film on your entire list was a 6.5(Wall-E)! That is a staggering amount of overlaps and I assume is one of the highest out everybody here. Great list!

W
Movies seen: 70
Overlaps: 21
Avg: 7.8

W I have to say had one of the oddest lists I have ever seen. You got a lot of slack for some of your choices. Some of that I agree with (Bio-Dome) and others I enjoyed quite a bit myself(Freddy Got Fingered is really dumb, but it's pretty fucking funny.) Very interesting list where I liked a good majority of the films.

Banks
Movies seen: 60
Overlaps: 26
Avg: 8.2

Banks this was a great list. It was great to see Hustle and Flow and Friday on someone else's list. Those are two of my favorites as well that I thought would get overlooked completely. A couple of duds(Prisoner Of Azkaban and The Royal Tennenbaums) brought down the average a bit, but I really enjoyed most of your list.

Ron B,Buscemi,leestu,six and geez are up next!

[numbersix]

Ah, Shrykster, thanks again for working so hard to make this happen. You put so much into this and you deserve endless kudos.

As for your Top 100, that's another issue althogether . Firstly, I was glad to see that I enjoyed everyone's #1 film, including yours. I was blessed to have sene The Usual Suspects without knowing about the twist. And I rented it on video (I was too young to see it in cinemas, although at the time I don't think there was one in my town - there was a period of a few years where we were "between" cinemas). I was blown away by the ending, so much so that I watched it with my mates just to see their reactions. Sadly, one smart-ass guessed Keyser Sose quite early on (due to similarity in voices) though the others were impressed. Admittedly, I'm the opposite of you: I tend to resent "twist" movies because they often force their twist and leave vast plot holes in their wake (The Sixth Sense, Shutter Island, The Game, etc) and often tend to be entirely about the twist and not the theme/characters. While The Usual Suspects is not a film I want to rewatch and it wouldn't make my Top 200, it is still somewhat enjoyable to watch even knowing the twist. The action and pacing is quite good, and there's plenty of quotable lines.

Overall your list was a little like The Usual Suspects. I could appreciate it in many ways but not adore it. Overall you averaged 6.14 which makes you joint second worst along with W. But even that isn't too bad. There's plenty I enjoyed, such as Predator, Mystery Men, Ghost Busters, etc. And of course there was 7 films we shared on our lists. But I guess you love your tentpole movies, and I have to confess that while I like some of them, there's a lot that are like a MacDonalds meal: fills you up at the time but ultimately is not memorable or significant. The Pirates of the Caribbean films mean nothing to me and I forgot them as soon as I saw them. Oceans 11 seemed so shallow I turned it off (a rarity for me). Same goes for 300, Cars, Saw, etc. I have seen only 77 of your films. Some of the unseen films I will probably avoid (Bloodsport, Flushed Away, True Believer), but there are some that I'm really excited to see, especially Angel Heart, Better off Dead (which I never would have noticed until your posted the amusing trailer), and of course the films in Your Top 10 I haven't seen (Dragon and Slevin). I'll let you know what I think when I catch them (and Angel Heart is a priority)!

[Shrykespeare]

I think you may enjoy Angel Heart, Six... let me know if you see the "twist ending" coming.

And you'll ove Better Off Dead because the characters have NO basis in reality whatsoever. It's just pure wacky awesomeness (or awesome wackiness, whatever).

[numbersix]

Now that Iwe know every film in our Top 100 lists, I wanted to finish with some pointless list-making. Firstly, here's my Top 5 by average score

5. Greenarrow
4. NSpan
3. Buscemi
2. Chien
1. Silversurfer

And Top 5 by amount of shared films...

21: Leetsu
23: Chien
24: NSpan
28: Buscemi
30: Silversurfer

So congrats again, SS!

I feel compelled to make an effort to see every film in every Top 10 that I haven't already seen, although I'm ordering them by priority, from most important at 1 to least important at 19

1: Bottle Rocket (NSpan's #1)
2: My Neighbour Totoro (GA's #8)
3: Rio Bravo (Chien's #10)
4: Howl's Moving Castle (UDM's #4)
5: Lucky Number Slevin (Shryke's #10)
6: Clue (Banks's #1)
7: Bull Durham (JohnE's #2)
8: The Lion King (UDM's #3)
9: Alice in Wonderland (GA's #6)
10: How to Train Your Dragon (Shryke's #7)
11: The Bridges of Madison County (Chien's #9)
12: Elf (W's #3)
13: Liar Liar(Ozzy's #9)
14:The Boondock Saints (Geez's #5, Tranny's #9)
15: Remember the Titans (W's #4)
16: Memoirs of a Geisha (UDM's #9)
17: The Emperor's New Groove (GA's #9)
18: Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (UDM's #7)

And FINALLY, my Top 10 must see films from across everyone's list in total:

Memories of Murder (Chien)
The Seven Samurai (Leetsu, SS, Ron B)
Un Air de Famille (Chien)
A Christmas Story (NSpan, SS, GA)
The Wages of Fear (SS)
The Women (Buscemi)
Angel Heart (Shryke)
Black Narcissus (GA)
Rosemary's Baby (GA, SS, John E)
Jesus de Montreal (Leetsu)

Thanks guys!

[Buscemi]

Actually, Better Off Dead is semi-autobiographical. The director became depressed after a break-up and began making what he felt to be sad and depressing films. When he showed them to his friends, they had the opposite effect and became hilarious dark comedies. After this event, the director came up with the idea for Better Off Dead.

[Chienfantome]

Undeadmonkey
Your favourite film is a very worthy favourite film. Although I can't think of a LOTR film without the other two, as they make one gigantic masterpiece in my eyes, the first one is, yes, an amazing film on its own, and I perfectly the excitment it left me with when I first saw it in theater.

Your Top 100 was clearly, in my eyes, one of the weirdest, if not the weirdest. I have seen 93 films of your list, that's a lot, and what I found weird in it was how our tastes can look so much alike sometimes, with 13 overlaps in all, even "A river runs through it" which we must be the only two to have listed. PLus there are films that very nearly missed my list, like 101 Dalmatians, or The Assassination of Jesse James. Or some I have discovered since, like "Lifeboat" which is a terrific film. But in your list, I found so many films I consider dispensable (to say the least), and in such high places, that it baffled me. POTC, Memoirs of a Geisha, Man on Fire, Miss Congeniality. Yep, definitely a weird list. But weird is cool too

[Chienfantome]

NSpan
Damn. You finish with a film I have yet to see. But it is one, I can say, that I have been meaning to see for years, being the huge fan of Wes Anderson I am I even wonder if I don't own it on dvd. Not sure. I'll gladly watch it as soon as possible !

Only 77 films seen overall. That's very few. Very few. Your tastes of election in terms of cinema are quite vast from different genres, and in it there are many very American comedies I haven't seen. But we still managed to have 16 overlaps in all, and there were very few films I don't like in your favourites, one of them being my least favourite Coen Bros. film, Raising Arizona. Your list clearly lacks foreign language films, but other than that, and those strange comedies, I like your Top very much.