The Semi-Annual Top 25 Movies List
Aug. 19th, 2007 02:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jetpack_monkeyEvery six months I make up a list of my top 25 films of all time. Despite the "all time" bit, the list does change significantly every time I make it. Certainly there's a certain arbitrary-ness to it, but hey... I've been doing it since 2001.
Format is Rank) Title (Director, Year) [Previous rank]
1) His Girl Friday (Hawks, 1940) [7]
2) The Third Man (Reed, 1949) [1]
3) Touch of Evil (Welles, 1958) [18]
4) Amelie (Jeunet, 2001) [5]
5) Harold and Maude (Ashby, 1971) [3]
6) Singin' in the Rain (Kelly/Donen, 1951) [6]
7) Brazil (Gilliam, 1985) [4]
8) Sunset Boulevard (Wilder, 1950) [9]
9) Bringing Up Baby (Hawks, 1938) [10]
10) Casablanca (Curtiz, 1942) [n/a]
11) The Apartment (Wilder, 1960) [8]
12) Psycho (Hitchcock, 1960) [n/a]
13) North by Northwest (Hitchcock, 1959) [2]
14) Modern Times (Chaplin, 1936) [19]
15) When Harry Met Sally (Reiner, 1989) [13]
16) Trainspotting (Boyle, 1997) [15]
17) Dawn of the Dead (Romero, 1978) [17]
18) Annie Hall (Allen, 1977) [n/a]
19) Pulp Fiction (Tarantino, 1994) [21]
20) M (Lang, 1931) [n/a]
21) After Hours (Scorcese, 1985) [n/a]
22) The Big Lebowski (Coen, 1998) [23]
23) Kind Hearts and Coronets (Hamer, 1949) [n/a]
24) Monty Python and the Holy Grail (Gilliam/Jones, 1975) [24]
25) Evil Dead II (Raimi, 1987) [n/a] {geekgasm slot*)
New to the list since last time: Casablanca, Psycho, Annie Hall, M, After Hours, Kind Hearts and Coronets, and Evil Dead II (of these, only the last three have never been on any iteration of the list).
Dropped since last time: The Princess Bride [11], Paths of Glory [12], High Fidelity [14], Double Indemnity [16], Shallow Grave [20], Arsenic and Old Lace [22], and Shaun of the Dead [25].
* #25 on the Semi-Annual Top 25 is the Geekgasm slot: a a film that taps into my own personal brainpan for reasons that science cannot fathom. It's a movie that would, in a rational world, step aside and let a better film in. This is not a rational world.
And now, for the first time, the list of candidates that didn't make the cut (but just barely):
Almost Famous
Audition
Boogie Nights
Double Indemnity
Duck Soup
Fight Club
A Fish Called Wanda
Halloween
A Hard Day's Night
High Fidelity
The Howling
It Happened One Night
Maltese Falcon
MASH
Metropolis
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
The Muppet Movie
Paths of Glory
The Princess Bride
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Rashomon
Re-Animator
Run Lola Run
Seven Samurai
Shallow Grave
Shaun of the Dead
Some Like It Hot
Format is Rank) Title (Director, Year) [Previous rank]
1) His Girl Friday (Hawks, 1940) [7]
2) The Third Man (Reed, 1949) [1]
3) Touch of Evil (Welles, 1958) [18]
4) Amelie (Jeunet, 2001) [5]
5) Harold and Maude (Ashby, 1971) [3]
6) Singin' in the Rain (Kelly/Donen, 1951) [6]
7) Brazil (Gilliam, 1985) [4]
8) Sunset Boulevard (Wilder, 1950) [9]
9) Bringing Up Baby (Hawks, 1938) [10]
10) Casablanca (Curtiz, 1942) [n/a]
11) The Apartment (Wilder, 1960) [8]
12) Psycho (Hitchcock, 1960) [n/a]
13) North by Northwest (Hitchcock, 1959) [2]
14) Modern Times (Chaplin, 1936) [19]
15) When Harry Met Sally (Reiner, 1989) [13]
16) Trainspotting (Boyle, 1997) [15]
17) Dawn of the Dead (Romero, 1978) [17]
18) Annie Hall (Allen, 1977) [n/a]
19) Pulp Fiction (Tarantino, 1994) [21]
20) M (Lang, 1931) [n/a]
21) After Hours (Scorcese, 1985) [n/a]
22) The Big Lebowski (Coen, 1998) [23]
23) Kind Hearts and Coronets (Hamer, 1949) [n/a]
24) Monty Python and the Holy Grail (Gilliam/Jones, 1975) [24]
25) Evil Dead II (Raimi, 1987) [n/a] {geekgasm slot*)
New to the list since last time: Casablanca, Psycho, Annie Hall, M, After Hours, Kind Hearts and Coronets, and Evil Dead II (of these, only the last three have never been on any iteration of the list).
Dropped since last time: The Princess Bride [11], Paths of Glory [12], High Fidelity [14], Double Indemnity [16], Shallow Grave [20], Arsenic and Old Lace [22], and Shaun of the Dead [25].
* #25 on the Semi-Annual Top 25 is the Geekgasm slot: a a film that taps into my own personal brainpan for reasons that science cannot fathom. It's a movie that would, in a rational world, step aside and let a better film in. This is not a rational world.
And now, for the first time, the list of candidates that didn't make the cut (but just barely):
Almost Famous
Audition
Boogie Nights
Double Indemnity
Duck Soup
Fight Club
A Fish Called Wanda
Halloween
A Hard Day's Night
High Fidelity
The Howling
It Happened One Night
Maltese Falcon
MASH
Metropolis
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
The Muppet Movie
Paths of Glory
The Princess Bride
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Rashomon
Re-Animator
Run Lola Run
Seven Samurai
Shallow Grave
Shaun of the Dead
Some Like It Hot
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no subject
Date: 2007-08-19 10:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-08-19 11:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-08-20 03:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-08-20 04:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-08-20 06:09 am (UTC)1) Pull all DVDs from the shelf that "feel right"
2) Divide DVDs into three piles: Yes, Maybe, and No.
3) Pull all the No DVDs.
4) Divide the Maybes into piles of Yes or No.
5) Pull the Maybe-Nos.
6) Shuffle the Maybe-Yes DVDs into the original Yes pile.
7) Repeat steps 2-6 until I have 25 DVDs.
8) Set aside the #25 Geekgasm DVD (usually the weirdest, most out-there selection).
9) Pick up two DVDs, rank one against the other (i.e. North by Northwest is a better film than Annie Hall)
10) Insert the rest of the DVDs into the list, feeling out the ranking as I go).
It's more of a gut thing, really. A really complicated gut thing.
no subject
Date: 2007-08-20 08:14 pm (UTC)