Filmspotting

Re: AFI Top 100 Films

kaspergutman — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 17:59:29 GMT

strangeframe:
Looking to AFI for enlightenment on films is like looking to the wolf for advice on raising sheep, but of course, isn't that the point of the AFI list...raising sheep?

HEAR! HEAR! People should be encouraged to expand their movie horizons beyond Hollywood, although for first timers or relative newcomers to film this is a good starting point where you can wade in slowly before reaching the deep end of the pool.

Re: AFI Top 100 Films

achance42 — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 16:33:26 GMT

It would really be an awful thing if this list actually meant anything at all.

Re: AFI Top 100 Films

solafekxela — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 01:11:30 GMT

Manchurian Candidate? Birth of a Nation? Come on, AFI. The ballot was even more ridiculous, it included Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Peral and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Sure these films didn't make the list, but the fact that they were even considered among the top 400 by the AFI is absurd.

Re: AFI Top 100 Films

Risselada — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 01:41:09 GMT

raydanger:
And I've seen Citizen Kane and wasn't overly impressed. Top 100? Okay. Number one? I think not.

Well whether or not you were impressed, it has been #1 on these types of lists for decades. I don't think any movie that has already been released will ever top it.

Re: AFI Top 100 Films

raydanger — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 03:42:49 GMT

I'm personally perplexed that Pulp Fiction is only ranked at #94.

And I've seen Citizen Kane and wasn't overly impressed. Top 100? Okay. Number one? I think not.

Re: AFI Top 100 Films

Risselada — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 14:40:20 GMT

danheat:
But wouldn't the David Lean films be considered British? I assume that Lawrence of Arabia was a British production. But I could be wrong.

Yeah, is Lawrence of Arabia on the list? It seems like they just limited themselves to fictional narrative movies where English is the primary language. Yeah I guess like you said a good starting place for people with phobias of black and white older films, but too scary to those with phobias of documentaries or experimental films or foreign language films.

Re: AFI Top 100 Films

danheat — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 16:28:36 GMT

But wouldn't the David Lean films be considered British? I assume that Lawrence of Arabia was a British production. But I could be wrong.

The AFI list is generally a very straightforward list, with a focus on "classic" older films, but it is a good starting point for viewers who have a phobia about older, black and white films.

Re: AFI Top 100 Films

Risselada — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 17:16:09 GMT

achance42:
But it was there in 1997.

That's weird. I thought it was the American Film Institute and that it was limited to American films. Maybe they included it because Welles is American. Are there any other foreign films on the list?

Re: AFI Top 100 Films

tommacy — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 07:03:31 GMT

I was really pleased to see Buster Keaton's "The General" all the way up at #18. It didn't make the first list, nor did any Keaton film. Meanwhile, there were three Chaplin films. Absurd. Nice recovery this time around. I think DVD releases of the past 10 years have substantially raised awareness in Keaton's work. The contention of his superiority to Chaplin seems to be gaining more and more momentum. I'd have to agree.

Re: AFI Top 100 Films

ncdcva — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 22:24:03 GMT

The Third Man was on the ballot -- it probably wasn't included because it didn't have a third act where Harry Lime decided to redeem himself by bringing puppies to a ward full of young menengitis victims.

Re: AFI Top 100 Films

achance42 — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 11:41:43 GMT

But it was there in 1997.

Re: AFI Top 100 Films

Risselada — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 22:36:44 GMT

achance42:
Third Man's omission was shocking. How did that happen?

The Third Man probably wasn't eligible since it's British, not American.

Re: AFI Top 100 Films

achance42 — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 18:48:08 GMT

This is still the best "intro to film" list you're ever going to find. The problem is it's not for us; it's for the kids who haven't seen most of these movies yet. If anything, it's actually improved over the 10 years, despite some bad exclusions and inclusions. But for some of these, you can justify them being there for what they took out.

I don't care what anyone says, Titanic is the most underrated overrated film ever. It's far from Hollywood at its best but far from its worst as well. What it is, and why I think it gets so much hell, is Hollywood at its most Hollywood. This is why it won 11Oscars and has the highest domestic box office gross. Everything that is classic Hollywood filmmaking is there in abundance, so why wouldn't it be on the list? And dammit, it's a better movie than Dances With Wolves (which is thankfully gone now) so that's an upgrade from the old list.

Fargo being taken off the list isn't surprising, since it was kind of a "movie of the moment" thing when they made the 1997 list (if they compiled the list in 1998, it might never have made it), but something by the Coen Brothers should have remained. Third Man's omission was shocking. How did that happen? And I'm burning over Close Encounters and Fantasia getting booted too. Snow White might have been the first but Fantasia is, in my opinion, the most important animated film ever produced. And Close Encounters deserves to be on that list over Saving Private Ryan, that's for sure; the clip they showed of Ryan made me realize just how miscast Tom Hanks was in that movie.

I don't know. I think we've all seen too many movies to pay any attention to these lists anymore (except for the list of everything that was voted on for the Sight & Sound poll). We just have to hope that the budding film geeks reading the AFI list will know how to make the leap from The Sixth Sense to Blue Velvet.

Re: AFI Top 100 Films

Risselada — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 21:42:49 GMT

Now list the top 5 lists out of the lists you just made.

Re: AFI Top 100 Films

ncdcva — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 02:00:00 GMT

AFI didn't fall short -- it achieved a dull, middlebrow list that will send people to the video store to find movies with broad popular appeal. You have to hand it to AFI to rig the nominees in such a way that it produces a crowd pleasing list -- even with some of the older films, the emphasis was on the treacly and sentimental: Movies like The Best Years of Our Lives, High Noon, Shane, and all of the Capra films are seriously overvalued, even in historical context. The modern films are worse, because there are some genuinely bad films represented: Forrest Gump, Titanic, Shawshank Redemption, even The Sixth Sense.

The interesting thing about the list is trying to decide how consensus forms -- Placing Raging Bull at #4 is completely out of character with the list as a whole -- it's as if mainstream film lovers have decided it's the 'edgy' film to embrace for a little street cred, so we can feel less guilty about The Sound of Music. You can almost feel the herd moving in these 10 years. Is Birth of a Nation too politically incorrect in the 21st Century? Let's just replace it with Intolerance.

So the list should be best studied as an exercise in groupthink: Citizen Kane has to be #1 not because people actually love the film (save that for Casablanca), but because it's been #1 in every list like this for thirty years. Citizen Kane is and should be prized for its audacity and its technique, but it's not an especially likeable film. Want proof? Compared to the Godfather, how often is it on television? I watch Citizen Kane every now and then for the same reason I eat Raisin Bran, and I feel about the same afterwards.

Anyhow, this is a Filmspotting group, so here's the top 5s

Most egregious exclusions: The Right Stuff, McCabe and Mrs. Miller, Manhattan, Amadeus, National Lampoon's Animal House (Bonus exclusion: Mulholland Drive not even on AFI ballot)

Most egregious inclusions: Titanic, Sixth Sense, Easy Rider, Forrest Gump, The French Connection

Belongs on list, but overvalued: Wizard of Oz (10), City Lights (11), Grapes of Wrath (23), E.T. (24), High Noon (27)

Belongs on list, but undervalued: The Graduate(17), Godfather Part II (32), Philadelphia Story (44), Unforgiven (68), Goodfellas (92)

Best new surprises: Cabaret, Blade Runner, Last Picture Show, All the President's Men, Do the Right Thing

Worst new surprises: Fellowship of the Ring, Shawshank Redemption, Toy Story, In the Heat of the Night, 12 Angry Men

Seeded just about right: Lawrence of Arabia (7), Sunset Boulevard (16) All About Eve (28), Bonnie and Clyde (42), Pulp Fiction (94)

AFI Top 100 Films

Aegis — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 20:02:03 GMT

The AFI people really fell short this year - Fargo and The Third Man didn't make the list but crap like Titanic did. Amazing!