Top 100, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the List

[NSpan]

ol' Ron Burgundy asked me about this--so i figured i'd go ahead and restart this thread for the new board... i made this list a year or two ago, but it's still pretty up-to-date:

(note: these are my FAVORITE movies... it is NOT an attempt to list the 100 "greatest films ever made")


1-25

Bottle Rocket
Brazil
Buffalo '66
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Star Wars
Caddyshack
Annie Hall
The Empire Strikes Back
Raiders of the Lost Ark
8 1/2
Pulp Fiction
Barry Lyndon
Barton Fink
Ed Wood
The Royal Tenenbaums
Die Hard
Dead Man
Evil Dead
Back to the Future
Beetlejuice
Reservoir Dogs
Goodfellas
Aliens
Return of the Jedi
Wake Up, Ron Burgundy


26-50

Office Space
Evil Dead 2
The Big Lebowski
The Stoned Age
Grindhouse
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Seven
Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels
Mad Max
Army of Darkness
Fletch
The Jerk
Rushmore
The Life of Brian
National Lampoon's Vacation
The Shining
The Princess Bride
Jackie Brown
The Terminator
Children of Men
The Three Amigos
Nashville
Sin City
Clue
An American Werewolf in London


51-75

A Christmas Story
Night of the Living Dead
Dazed & Confused
Dead Alive
Fargo
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Young Guns II
Willow
Anchorman
The Godfather
Dr. Strangelove
The Conversation
Cool Hand Luke
Four Rooms
Billy Madison
Hot Rod
The Gate
Full Metal Jacket
The Godfather Part II
Raising Arizona
Hannah and Her Sisters
Swingers
Harvey
MASH
The Proposition


76-100

Rocky
Taxi Driver
Total Recall
Tombstone
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Tenacious D: Pick of Destiny
Stranger than Paradise
Mean Streets
Mallrats
Snatch
Young Guns
Idiocracy
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Sweet and Lowdown
Alien
Vampire's Kiss
Down by Law
Pee-Wee's Big Adventure
Ghostbusters
Following
Ghost World
13 Conversations About One Thing
A Boy and His Dog
Glengarry Glen Ross
The Secret of NIMH


Top 10 Favorite Documentaries
The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters
Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii
DiG!
Be Here to Love Me
The Devil and Daniel Johnston
The Last Waltz
Woodstock
Grizzly Man
Gimme Shelter
American Movie

Honorable Mention: Crumb



a few movies i've watched (or rewatched) recently that might be worth consideration when updating the list: Crimes & Misdemeanors, The 'Burbs, 9, Aguirre: The Wrath of God, Assassination of Jesse James, Badlands, Au Revoir Les Enfants, Moon, Commando, Drag Me to Hell, Thelma & Louise, The Thing, The Wrestler, Night on Earth, and Harvard Beats Yale 29-29 (for the documentary list)


___________


what's yours?

[Buscemi]

But wasn't most of The King Of Kong faked for dramatic purposes?

[NSpan]

It's possible. But I watched it purely for entertainment purposes. In that sense, it's brilliant. Even if some of it was fake (or, perhaps, re-filmed for dramatic purposes), who cares? It's a fun story either way.

I do have a problem with the decline of the documentary in general. The "Michael Moore Effect" has kinda mitigated the respectability of the genre as a whole. But, then again, a movie like King of Kong didn't take itself all that seriously to begin with

[Buscemi]

I saw The King Of Kong as a dull ad for Twin Galaxies. Mitchell and Wiebe struck me as being too narcisstic, Walter Ray seemed full of himself and the more interesting stories (such as the old lady who broke the Q*Bert record and Roy Schildt's feud with Twin Galaxies) were glossed over to focus on the main boring plot with its anticlimatic finish (one of many things that the director changed for the "documentary", Mitchell was not afraid of Wiebe and they actually did face each other a few times). To me, it was a load of hot air.

But to be fair, it was better than Four Christmases (the director's follow-up).

[NSpan]

you thought that THIS guy was portrayed as too narcissistic?

what would you think of the movie if it was admittedly fictional? (for most people, the content was so foreign that it might as well have been...)

[numbersix]

Wow, that's an interesting list, Nspan, a truely eclectic mix of arthouse and comedy. Why do you put Wake Up Ron Burgendy (which I've never seen) ahead of Anchorman?

A few other surprises... like the Tenacious D movie, which I found tiresome and realy lacking in jokes, especially when compared to their HBO series. Or Four Rooms... didn't think anyone like that movie

[transformers2]

Thats a pretty solid list NSpan. A few choices [mainly Wes Anderson films] i would have to disagree with but clearly that's what great about the diveristy in taste that we all have. I actually am redoing my Top 100 soon and will post it as soon as it is done.

[NSpan]

Wow, that's an interesting list, Nspan, a truely eclectic mix of arthouse and comedy. Why do you put Wake Up Ron Burgendy (which I've never seen) ahead of Anchorman?

comes down to preference mostly. Anchorman is a classic--but, when i first saw it in the theater, i didn't really recognize it for what it was.... with Wake Up Ron Burgundy, it really hit me on first viewing.. honestly, they should've just kept both plotlines (panda AND alarm clock) and made one of the best (albeit LONG) comedies ever.. sure the theatrical movie is more cohesive, but i think Wake Up has some better lines.. for example:

Ron Burgundy: [while making love to Veronica Corningstone] Hey, wake the black lady up.

and

Brian Fantana: Come on guys, don't eat me! Eat Brick! He won't even care. Right Brick?
Brick Tamland: Oh yeah, that's fine.

and

[Ron, Brian, Champ and Brick drive to the observatory]
Champ Kind: I love you, Ron.
[pause]
Champ Kind: I said I love you, Ron.
[pause]
Champ Kind: Why is everyone ignoring me? I love you, Ron! And I think we should adopt a child together in Vermont! Answer me!
Ron Burgundy: Um... so... uh... the... the car's running great.
Brian Fantana: Hm? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah...
Ron Burgundy: Take it for a tune-up?
Brian Fantana: Yeah.
Ron Burgundy: Uh-huh.
Brian Fantana: Changed the oil...
Ron Burgundy: Good!
Brian Fantana: And, uh...
Champ Kind: [shouts] Answer me! Ron! Ron, I know you heard me. I love you... and I want to be with you... like men. I want to be inside you. I want you inside me.
Brian Fantana: All right, anybody's up for the radio?
Ron Burgundy: I would love to hear the radio.
Brick Tamland: Yeah.
Champ Kind: [shouts] No radio! I have something to say to Ron! You know I've had feelings for you for a long time! We'd be good together, Ron, I-I-I'm a good cook. Uh... do you like your feet rubbed? I'll bet you do. I'll-I'll rub 'em, and, uh, maybe we could get married in a ceremony presided over by Roger Staubach - I already called him last week, I hope that's okay with you.
Ron Burgundy: Mexican food on me?
Brian Fantana: Hey, that sounds good.
Brick Tamland: Yeah, burrito!
Ron Burgundy: Okay.
Champ Kind: Say it! Say "Champ Burgundy," say it!
Brick Tamland: Tostada!
Ron Burgundy: Uh, tostadas would be great!
Champ Kind: [shouts] I am in love with Ron Burgundy! I'm always thinking about you, Ron! I have dream journals about you - filled pages! When I make love to women, I close my eyes and think of you when I finish! Ron Burgundy is in love with me!
[sings]
Champ Kind: "Ron Burgundy and Champion Kind, oh, let's... be so beautiful together, running in the grass, in the summer and the fall, and winter time too...”

A few other surprises... like the Tenacious D movie, which I found tiresome and realy lacking in jokes, especially when compared to their HBO series. Or Four Rooms... didn't think anyone like that movie

true that i'd take the series over the movie--but that doesn't mitigate the fact that the movie is also great.. it takes the format of a musical and actually makes it work.. i despise musicals, for the most part.. (a few other exceptions include The Muppet Movie and Happiness of the Katakuris, ... and I'm going to give Nine a fair chance).. this one has really grown on me..

Four Rooms has to be watched as an anthology... and pretty much every anthology has at least one stinker... if you make it through that first segment, Four Rooms is a masterpiece! (coincidentally, i said pretty much the same thing in my recent response to Jim Jarmusch's Night on Earth)

[numbersix]

Must check out Wake Up Ron Burgendy

It's not my dislike of musicals that made me dislike the Tenacious D movie, I think it was the lack of jokes that worked to be honest. It kinda reminded me of The Simpsons movie, in that it had some good jokes, but the transition from short episodes to a feature film just didn't work.

I'd have to say that Four Rooms had 3 bad parts, and one decent one. And the decent one was just a remade Hitchcock story!

Still, overall it's a great list, and I'm making note of the flicks I've yet to see:

Bottle Rocket
Wake Up, Ron Burgundy
The Stoned Age
Army of Darkness
Clue
An American Werewolf in London
Hot Rod
The Gate
Stranger than Paradise
Idiocracy
Vampire's Kiss
Down by Law
Following
13 Conversations About One Thing
A Boy and His Dog

[Buscemi]

I've also never understood NSpan's preference of The Stoned Age over Dazed and Confused. Dazed and Confused was a misleading ad campaign (nothing but people getting high) than was actually a great coming of age film. The Stoned Age was a misleading ad campaign (nothing but people getting high)...and that's all. The movie was simply made as a cash-in.

[Leestu]

Is The Proposition the Australian movie written by Nick Cave and directed by John Hillcoat? Haven't seen it myself yet but on my fave 100 movies list from a while back I had a little known Aussie movie called Ghosts...of the Civil Dead; co-written by Nick Cave, and directed by John Hillcoat.

[NSpan]

Is The Proposition the Australian movie written by Nick Cave and directed by John Hillcoat? Haven't seen it myself yet but on my fave 100 movies list from a while back I had a little known Aussie movie called Ghosts...of the Civil Dead; co-written by Nick Cave, and directed by John Hillcoat.

Yep, same guys... I've been trying to find Ghosts--but it's hard to track down... i'd love to see it... we're gonna catch the Road this week.... Kate dug the novel

[Leestu]

I own it on VHS. If you want I can look into burning it onto a DVD for you. Surely that's possible? I'll have to talk to my computer geek mates.

[NSpan]

lemme know!