RSS 2.0You know these little lists that sum up like the 100 best movies ever? Well every time I read one of these I wonder how reliable they are.
That exact thing occured to me when I was reading about the ’100 Greatest Movies of All Time’ in this month’s Empire magazine. This list was based on readers’ votes. I was amazed some very recent movies were part of this list and I was missing some great titles as well. And then there is the Top 250 list of the Internet Movie Database that makes up its ranking based on votes from its visitors. IMdB is claiming this is a very reliable system.
I had some spare time this afternoon (I had to wait for something) and decided to combine these two lists (read: I calculated the average of the movies ranked in these two lists) into one ultimate list. the great thing is that Empire is mainly British and IMdB predominantly American, but also worldwide. Read the results here…
1 Godfather, The (1972)
- Shawshank Redemption, The (1994)
- Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The (2001)
4 Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The (2002)
5 Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, The (2003)
- Star Wars (1977)
7 Godfather: Part II, The (1974)
8 Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
9 Pulp Fiction (1994)
10 Casablanca (1942)
- Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
12 Citizen Kane (1941)
13 Schindler’s List (1993)
14 Usual Suspects, The (1995)
15 Goodfellas (1990)
16 One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
17 Fight Club (1999)
18 Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
19 Seven Samurais (1954)
- Memento (2000)
21 American Beauty (1999)
22 Taxi Driver (1976)
23 It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
24 Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
25 Apocalypse Now (1979)
26 Raging Bull (1980)
27 Vertigo (1958))
28 Some Like It Hot (1959)
29 Fabuleux destin d’Am’lie Poulain, Le (2001)
- Matrix, The (1999)
- L.A. Confidential (1997)
32 Jaws (1975)
33 Rear Window (1954)
34 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
35 Psycho (1960)
- Se7en (1995)
37 Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
38 Silence of the Lambs, The (1991)
39 Blade Runner (1982)
40 Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
41 L’on (1994)
42 Saving Private Ryan (1998)
43 Third Man, The (1949)
44 North by Northwest (1959)
45 12 Angry Men (1957)
46 Donnie Darko (2001)
47 Aliens (1986)
48 Reservoir Dogs (1992)
49 Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)
50 Chinatown (1974)
Arjan Welles (213 posts)Arjan Welles - law graduate. I work at a bank, I work as a film critic for Dutch and English media. My favorite directors are David Lynch, David Fincher, Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Spielberg, Quentin Tarantino. I love arthouse over blockbusters.
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Wow, Arjan! Great list. It must have taken you ages. What did you have to wait for? A UPC repairman?
Why do some numbers have “-”? instead of the number?
Comment by suzero — Thu February 12, 2004 @ 18:29the hyphens are movies that have the same rank… that’s the danger of making average rankings
I handed in the first draft of my final thesis last Friday and I was waiting for my counselor to e-mail her remarks and comments to me. I was at uni and waiting for her e-mail to come in. I couldn’t do anything in the mean time and was reading Empire wondering if I could combine that list with the on IMdB…
Comment by Arjan — Thu February 12, 2004 @ 19:30BTW: some really well-known titles are not in the list, to my surprise, including Alien (in fact was #51), The Exorcist, Titanic, Jurassic Park, some Indiana Jones movies…
Comment by Arjan — Thu February 12, 2004 @ 19:33What surprises me is the hogh ranking of Shawshank Redemption (saw that already on Imdb). Nice movie, but not that special.
Where’s The Shining?
Comment by paco — Thu February 12, 2004 @ 23:57I also find the ranking of new movies a bit distorting. Lots of people have short memories and a lot of the good movies predate ImdB/internet.
I think it makes sense that there are many recent movies in lists like this. I’m having trouble looking at an appreciating older movies (70′s and before) because of their tempo and style. That even goed for movies I adored when they came out. Newer movies reflect current ‘zeitgeist’ and appeal to me more for that reason.
Good to see Aliens make the list. That movie probably was a major factor in my becoming a sci-fi fan and move lover.
Comment by weefselkweekje — Fri February 13, 2004 @ 8:52P.S. Titanic was voted the worst movie of all time recently by readers of a british magazine, so I’m not surprised to not see it on this list-of-lists.
Comment by weefselkweekje — Fri February 13, 2004 @ 8:54I think Shawshank Redemption deserves it’s place up there – and possibly more so than The Godfather. I think people just accept that the Godfather is one of the best films ever, because everybody says so – like Citizen Kane.
Revisiting them both lately I’m still in awe of the process and invention surrounding Citizen Kane, but it stands out more as an impressive work of its period than an important movie of our time. It still has the power to influence many films today (Tarantino uses the deep focus technique, Todd Haynes’ Velvet Goldmine copies the plot structure completely) and for that reason I think it serves it’s place high up.
The Godfather part 1 is a good film, I’m not denying it – but I wouldn’t put it up there so high – in fact I doubt it would make my top 20. I think teh problem I have with it is I saw the Godfather after I’d seen so many other Mob films. The effect of the movie has been diluted. For instance – imagine if you’d seen Goodfellas, Casino, and just about every other Mob film from the 80′s and 90′s and THEN watched the Godfather – it would feel quite old hat and it does. Godfather part 2 however, is a MUCH better film. Although it carries on from part one – and you definitely need to be familiar with part 1 before you see it – I find it a much more fulfilling experience – everything’s bigger in scope and more impressive.
Back to Shawshank – I went to see thsi whe it came out at the pictures and loved it. As did everybody else who saw it. It never made huge box office – but it got good word of mouth – and through video – people found this film. It’s a perfect Sunday film. Lounge on the couch, press play and immerse yourself in the story for three hours. It never bores, it’s full of classic scenes and lines, and it hits every emotion you’ve got. I know a lot of people who have seen this movie and I’ve never met one of them who’s said anything other than – “That was a great film”. I think it deserves to be up there.
BTW – my personal top five would be:
Comment by damian — Fri February 13, 2004 @ 9:481. Clockwork Orange / The Lord of the Rings (all three parts)
3. The Thin Red Line (T. Malick)
4. Nobody’s Fool
5. Miller’s Crossing
4.
Yeah, let’s all dump lists here!
1. Star Wars V, The Empire Strikes Back
2. Aliens
3. LOTR, the whole thing
4. Le fabuleux destin d’Amelie Poulain
5. The Shawshank Redemption
I’m sure I’m forgetting some, as I didn’t really give this more than a few minutes. Hell, it’s damn near impossible to compose this list even if I’d put hours of work into it…
Comment by weefselkweekje — Fri February 13, 2004 @ 10:28@ Paco: the shining was in the top 100 but composing a top 100 wouldn’t be very reliable… I only had 100 titles from Empire, meaning that a title not in the Empire list but high in the IMdB list would never have a reliable ranking and wouldn’t be included in the top 50 list anyway. That is why I narrowed it down to 50 titles…
Comment by Anonymous — Fri February 13, 2004 @ 10:47I think most people are incapable of precisely ranking movies. When you take into account that everybody sees different films. And you take into account that probably mostly genre freaks even take the trouble of voting on IMDB … etc … etc …
I don’t think any ranking system can ever be accurate. But, that doesn’t mean that it can’t be FUN. Yeah! I like top 5′s 20′s gazillion’s…
Great work btw Arjan!
Personally if I think reaaalllly hard I can come up with a top 5 of ‘most favorite’ films. But the moment someone says: ‘And what about ‘A Clockwork Orange’. I go, oh yes, off course… A top 5 of ‘Best films’ is beyond my reach.
Most favorite films:
1. Blade Runner
Comment by reisneus — Fri February 13, 2004 @ 14:122. Le fabuleux destin d’Amelie Poulain
3. LOTR, the whole thing
4. Star Wars IV – A New Hope
5. Secrets and Lies
@Reisneus: You actually rate ANH higher than TESB? Compared to AMH the Star Wars galaxy is explored in so much more detail in TESB. It introduces Yoda, AT-AT’s, Dagobah, Boba Fett, etc, etc…
Comment by weefselkweekje — Fri February 13, 2004 @ 16:03I knew you were going to say that
I know, I know. I like episode IV best, because it’s the only conclusive ‘mini-story’. Imo, all other episodes lack this ’round finish’. In terms of production design, TESB is the best SW movie ever.
Comment by reisneus — Sat February 14, 2004 @ 16:03In terms of production design?!? I suggest you rent 2001: A Space Oddyssee or The Fifth Element and see what really good S-F production design looks like. That it may be the best S-F movie overall: okay. Certainly not the best prod. design.
Comment by Paco — Sat February 14, 2004 @ 19:43@Paco: I disagree. The thing about the production design of SW is that it’s so utterly fantastic. 2001 and The Fifth Element (how can you even suggest we need to rent those btw?) have great ships and locations, but nothing even close to all the weird characters and ships that walk/fly around a SW movie. The Mos Eisley bar scene alone has tens of different species in it, all designed with care and utterly different from eachother.
Another thing that was completely new with SW was how everything looked old. No brightly lit white corridors (2001?), but spaceships that could barely fly and need constant repairs. This is what puts SW’s production design in a class of it’s own imho (with only Blade Runner to accompany it).
The Fifth Element looks great (shame about the story), but it’s look would never have been concieved if it hadn’t been for SW.
Comment by weefselkweekje — Sat February 14, 2004 @ 20:01I think SW1 was pretty revolutionary at the time but it was until like 3 years ago I first saw all Star Wars movies. I actually saw The Phantom Menace BEFORE I saw any of the old SW movies…
SW itself looks great but is by far the weakest of the three old SW movies storywise… A lot happens on board of the spaceship…
TESB is by far the best of all SW movies… TROTJ is ok but I don’t like the Ewoks…
I am still VERY curious how Lucan will tie Episode III to Episode IV… how he is going to explain the downfall in technology…
What I think the new SW movies lack is taht tho’ they look visually stunning they are just building on already paved paths. And I think the new movies are too busy… there is a lot going on in the background… flying objects and creatures… to me that took away attention from the real story. And Jar Jar was just ANNOYING…
Lucas will release the first 3 episodes on DVD for the first time on September 21 2004. BUT it will be the visually improved ones and NOT the old versions… helas…
Comment by Arjan — Sat February 14, 2004 @ 23:04Imo Lucas should have let someone else do episode I,II and III . And he should have let the scipts be redone from scratch.
@ Paco. Read more carefully. ‘In terms of production design, TESB is the best SW movie ever.’ I said ‘SW’ not ‘SF’. I was not comparing SW production design with other SF production design.
Concerning the role SW has in inspiring all other SF movies, I agree with Weefselkweekje. Except 2001 – A Space Odyssey.
I still consider 2001 an odd one out. It’s a Kubrick film first and a SF movie second. 2001′s production design seems to work mostly on a metaphysical level. A dreamlike staging for a dream/nightmare to unfold. I’d like to compare it with ‘The Shining’, which has a similar ‘staging’. The vast emptyness of the hotel, kilometres of hallway, the eerily lit maze.
On a more ‘down-to-earth’ level it’s very 1968. Considering the furniture, the clothes and everything. And what I like best. It’s not out-dated. It’s probably the only film I know from that time that’s timeless.
Comment by reisneus — Sun February 15, 2004 @ 14:01OK, my bad. I agree with you on TESB having the best prod. design for SW. It is still one of my favorite SF-movies, though. Lucas made a huge mistake ‘polishing’ these movies up. He is a ‘rapist’ of his own work.
I particularly am not so crazy about the dream sequence in the end of 2001, but the rest of the design (ship, interior, realism) is fantastic. You said it right: no-one would belive this movie to be so old.
Comment by Paco — Mon February 16, 2004 @ 15:28well the rumors Lucas WILL be making (read: producing, not directing) episodes VII-IX start to spread…
he used to say he doesn’t want to do it… then he said he likes the books written about what happens after episode VI and if he WOULD film them it would be based on these books…
Comment by arjan — Mon February 16, 2004 @ 16:09raging bull IS the best movie ever
Comment by raging bull — Mon March 29, 2004 @ 0:38Yes well I have to say that my favourite movies are
)
Comment by [ro]Fish — Wed November 30, 2005 @ 19:471)star wars*1—6*
2)LOTR*1—3*
3)godfather*1—3*
4)Pirates of the carabean
E pa pul coaieee I’m from Roumania dude . respect
I would have to rank my top five like this:
1. The Empire Strikes Back
2. The Usual Suspects
3. Silence of the Lambs
4. Shawshank Redemption
5. Resevoir Dogs
Comment by pace — Thu December 6, 2007 @ 19:54This is the worst list of all time
You, sir, are a failure
Comment by Garret Planks — Fri April 25, 2008 @ 6:09