General Movie (Film for snobs) News Thread

[BomberPat]

I'm a big Orson Welles fan, and there's a lot I like about Citizen Kane, but I'd struggle to meaningfully make the case for it as the canonical best film ever. I'm glad that it's been knocked off a few top spots now, if only because I think it's very easy for something to just go unchallenged as a "best ever" in whatever category it's in, and that there's a danger in doing so.

I've only seen 33 films on the list, and most of them aren't in the order I'd put them (Barry Lyndon over The Shining?!), but the fuck do I know?

[SuperBacon]

19 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

I'm a big Orson Welles fan, and there's a lot I like about Citizen Kane, but I'd struggle to meaningfully make the case for it as the canonical best film ever. I'm glad that it's been knocked off a few top spots now, if only because I think it's very easy for something to just go unchallenged as a "best ever" in whatever category it's in, and that there's a danger in doing so.

I've only seen 33 films on the list, and most of them aren't in the order I'd put them (Barry Lyndon over The Shining?!), but the fuck do I know?

Then we're getting into 'better' criteria aren't we?

For instance, is Metropolis a 'better' film than Wayne's World? Sure.

Is Metropolis a better 'film' than Wayne's World? No, silly.

Plus it's all down to preference etc.

I know it's all stupid, but I can't wait to read my copy and look through all the top 10 lists. I've seen a couple on Twitter, and can't remember who it was, but whoever put Ted 2, fair play.

I've seen I think 17 of the 100, so definitely going to try to watch them all next year. Who needs a life anyway?

[The Gaffer]

Metropolis is probably a better film than Wayne's World. 

But Wayne's World 2? Well...that's a different story altogether...

[cobra_gordo]

I've just looked through that list and I've not even heard of five of the top ten, never mind seen them. I've just scrolled through and it's all a bit pretentious isn't it? Any top 100 films that doesn't have Jaws or Crocodile Dundee 2 in it clearly isn't worth the electronic paper it's written on.

[Loki]

It's hugely pretentious to put at number one, an obscure French (edit: language) film that most French film lovers have never seen, let alone a wider audience.   But then film critics are notorious fart-sniffers who love to exercise their obscure knowledge and would never admit to having watched a Marvel film by choice.

To put that there, and then not even have, I don't know, Jean De Florette, or Black Orpheus, or La Haine in the top 50 or even 100, is just super indulgent.  No, stick Le Jetée in there instead, a 30 minute long still picture art piece beloved of film courses for teaching montage editing, and leave out Cyrano De Bergerac, cos fuck actors and their craft.

It's nice to see films like Singing In The Rain making an appearance, showing some of the critics do actually watch, you know, popular entertainment.  But, yeah - no Jaws (no Spielberg, who did he ever beat!), no thanks.

 

 

 

Edited December 7, 2022 by Loki

[Keith Houchen]

23 minutes ago, Loki said:

Jean De Florette

You do love that film, don’t you! Don’t blame you!

[Chest Rockwell]

Uhhhh. It's actually a Belgian film I think you'll find.

[SuperBacon]

1 hour ago, Loki said:

It's hugely pretentious to put at number one, an obscure French film that most French film lovers have never seen, let alone a wider audience.   But then film critics are notorious fart-sniffers who love to exercise their obscure knowledge and would never admit to having watched a Marvel film by choice.

It's Sight & Sound not Empire. 

[Loki]

1 hour ago, Chest Rockwell said:

Uhhhh. It's actually a Belgian film I think you'll find.

Even worse!  😂

[Devon Malcolm]

On 12/1/2022 at 9:52 PM, SuperBacon said:

Sight and Sound have done their top 100 again, its been ten years and there is a new champ.

I'll assume only @Devon Malcolm has seen the number one, but I think I'm going to make watching them all my 2023 project. 

https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/greatest-films-all-time

Polls are, as we know, very silly but I always enjoy seeing this one.

I have seen it (obvs) and it's one of those things where I don't know if I'd ever feel comfortable recommending it to anyone. Because, after all, it is a 200 minute Belgian film about a woman peeling potatoes and sitting down a lot. But it's also definitely one of the greatest films I've ever seen and very deserving of that top spot. I would have placed it third in my own personal list.

The Sight & Sound list is always worth a look because it's done differently from others and it's an excellent way of discovering stuff you'd never heard of before. At the end of the day though, it's also still very silly in places (the lack of recent films and genre cinema is what I'd expect from an art cinema publication) and shouldn't be taken too seriously.

This is what my top 10 would have been if I'd voted, for the person that cares.

Edited December 16, 2022 by Devon Malcolm

[Mr_Danger]

Is that 200 minutes with or without the post credits scene?

[The King Of Swing]

We should just be thankful that The Dark Knight didn't make the list. 

[SuperBacon]

7 minutes ago, The King Of Swing said:

We should just be thankful that The Dark Knight didn't make the list. 

 

On 12/7/2022 at 3:57 PM, SuperBacon said:

It's Sight & Sound not Empire. 

 

[Devon Malcolm]

Yersssssss.

 

[Vamp]

On 12/7/2022 at 10:40 AM, BomberPat said:

I'm a big Orson Welles fan, and there's a lot I like about Citizen Kane, but I'd struggle to meaningfully make the case for it as the canonical best film ever. I'm glad that it's been knocked off a few top spots now, if only because I think it's very easy for something to just go unchallenged as a "best ever" in whatever category it's in, and that there's a danger in doing so.

I've only seen 33 films on the list, and most of them aren't in the order I'd put them (Barry Lyndon over The Shining?!), but the fuck do I know?

I'm obviously ridiculously behind on this but...

From what I remember of my film history, Citizen Kane benefitted a lot from timing. It was one if the first movies that ended up being shown a lot on television, and that coincided with a generation of movie directors and film critics growing up. Obviously that's not to take much away from the film, because it was still good enough to leave an impression, but it also had an increased opportunity to impact on people's minds. A little earlier or a little later and it might not have done that. 

I was doing a Film MA when Citizen Kane was knocked off the top spot by Vertigo under a couple of lecturers who were asked to submit their lists to Sight and Sound. There was a surprising amount of fuss about it as if it was a seismic cultural shift. Which seemed to be to suggest that they had a pretty narrow view of film.