Line's Top 100 Films of All Time

[Line]

I'm watching There Will Be Blood tonight. I'm guessing this movie is in your top 3?

Ha, it's not on the list because it had just came out when I was putting it together. My guess is that it would have landed somewhere in the top 30 though.

 

[Line]

Brand new full entry coming later today.

 

[Line]

Anderson, 1997​

The ever growing popularity for director Paul Thomas Anderson may be leaving some people in the cold but I feel his biggest detractors see him as a bit of a risk-taker but believe that his overly stylistic hand tends to wane the subtextual bearings his films set forth on, thus reducing his work to exploratory yet superficial. This mindset is wrong. The deeply rich family-based thematics of his 1997 work Boogie Nights took a commonplace issue of familiar disfunction and upped the ante from both sensational and thematical standpoints and the entire film serves as exemplary reasoning against criticisms of he being too humanly detached. Even if one were to brush aside the his new take on the cinematic family, Anderson is still capable of newly exploring some other common devices and the picture itself remains one of many things: love, humor, tragedy, social acceptance, identity issues, and Altmanesque character weavings. To expand, it's of little wonderment that his 2007 epic There Will Be Blood was dedicated to the master himself as there are clear indicators of Anderson not only knowing his work but putting many of his trademark directorial movements into practice as well, experienced that carried over from his work with Altman in his final picture A Praire Home Companion. Alas, I fear I'm getting ahead of myself...

Boogie Nights is an exubarent journey that details the rise and fall of young Eddie Adams (a spectacular Mark Walhberg) as he stumbles his way blindly into the pornographic business under the tutelage of director Jack Horner. While there is a fairly typical arc involved as Eddie leaves his past personality and life to become the star Dirk Diggler it's still nearly impossible for me to sum up the narrative in itself in the allotted time I'm giving myself to write this. With musings of Altman is his head, PTA has crafted a film where all the supporting players are equally humane and developed. It's an uncommon feat to evoke such feeling and performance from so many actors in a single film, especially one where said performances are all working towards the great goal: that of coming together. As Adams runs away from home to join Horner and his surrounders the relation between all characters is somewhat chaotic and only budding towards a commercialized happiness, one that, without a deeper hand in selfless care for each other, will eventually fail. The way Robert Elswitt's lense captures all the nuanced color and extravagance of the era leaves the audience with a portrait of great 1970's ideology which they too become as caught up in as the characters they are watching.

Normally in these essays I've made it a bit of a habit to focus my attention on the philosophical aspect of the film or at least of the less technical elements, as I feel when appropriate they only add to, not envelope, what the film is actually trying to say. In the case of most of Anderson's work though I find this to be a mere impossibility as the technical prowess of him and his crew stand above almost all others in terms of creating this rich worldly tapestry that wonderfully displays its own self-awareness as often as it boldly steps back and allows the players to drive the working themes forward. Often times this universe in which the film exists changes either due to the ill-morally motived actions of a character or because of different extenuating circumstances all together. What results though is something inherently tragic yet realizingly beautiful. We become more and more invested with these fictitious people as we see how they respond to what comes their way and, despite the overhanging setting of a circle of pornographers, it's almost impossible not to see and feel (and hope for) them slowly being drawn towards each other as cultural and societal pressures box them out from their idealized opportunities. As this neatly-crafted, glossy world begins closing in on them they look to each other for strength and learn to exist in a way that the naysayers within their own lives would never have imagined: they become one. In the end, they are a family who has overcome and grown as much as any other has and although they were lucky at times they all have enough love in their lives to not rely on chance any more.

 

[Skeptic]

now THIS is a movie i can ge excited over

 

[Beefcake]

I hope there is a Tarentino, Romero, and Kevin Smith movie somewhere in your list line.

 

[Line]

now THIS is a movie i can ge excited over

I hope there is a Tarentino, Romero, and Kevin Smith movie somewhere in your list line.

Kevin Smith sucks.

Spoiler

No Romero, you'll get QT though. Oh, and Kevin Smith seriously sucks.

 

[Zigurd]

Line, do you enjoy films from other countries ?

 

[Line]

Line, do you enjoy films from other countries ?

Yes, the next entry will be a foreign one. Also, as we go further into the list more films on average will be from another country.

 

[Pain]

Stickied. Truly one of the greatest threads on this forum.

 

[Braaq]

I saw American Gangster and it was amazing, I really enjoyed every minute of it.
30 Days of Night looks retarded and I didn't even finish watching it, I agree with you on that one Line, but not on American Gangster.

 

[Line]

Stickied. Truly one of the greatest threads on this forum.

I saw American Gangster and it was amazing, I really enjoyed every minute of it.
30 Days of Night looks retarded and I didn't even finish watching it, I agree with you on that one Line, but not on American Gangster.

I'll post something in the Film Discussion thread in a few hours. I'm off to watch Carnal Knowledge.

 

[Pain]

Anychance of seeing My Life with Michael Keaton in your list? I like to watch this movie every now and again to remind me how important life is. Great movie.

 

[Line]

Anychance of seeing My Life with Michael Keaton in your list? I like to watch this movie every now and again to remind me how important life is. Great movie.

I actually haven't seen it but there are some very life affirming films on the list. I'll have to throw that on my download queue.

 

[Pain]

I actually haven't seen it but there are some very life affirming films on the list. I'll have to throw that on my download queue.

Watch it when you have the chance.

 

[Line]

Werner Herzog, 1977[/CENTER]

Largely seen as an anti-American and opportunistic film, Stroszek tells the story of Bruno, a second-chance alcoholic musician who opts to leave his homeland in an attempt to discover the promises of the American dream. It's my opinion that, although there are some sentiments brought out against the country, I find it to be more of a critique on the human exchange and the perception that those have in dealing with such dramatic financial decisions. There's always been an allure to the working opportunities associated with America and in all but a few cases it's been romanticized. Here, Herzog doesn't go out of his way to break down said labels but instead to show the difficulties and struggles one must overcome in order to succeed, that's not to say he doesn't craft a poignantly commentarial character study on man's inability to change himself allow the way though. Ingmar Bergman actually shared similar thoughts at one point of his life and reflected that people can change to an extent, that which is needed to couple their environment's needs, but to change the dire essence of a man is impossible. To be fair, Bergman said this sometime in the 1960's and was notorious for always wavering and changing his opinion on things and thus hated looking backward. However, it's still an interesting notion and what's more is to see it in the mind of one and in the work of another of the cinematic greats.

What greatly changed my perspective on the message for the taking in this film was the ending shot, an overly repetitive look at a chicken at a local tourist trap who has been trained to pull a string and dance. What we're shown here, as with the other trained critters, is a commentary on an unwillingness to change provided the same stimuli is present for us to interact with. At the film's opening, for example, Bruno is released from a Berlin prison and immediately heads to the bar. While it's not evident yet that he is falling back into the trappings of severe alcoholism, there's certainly more than a hint present in such a scene that he's on his way. Throughout the rest of the film his other notable habits follow him as well, showing that although his shortcomings in America (specifically Wisconsin) differ from those in Germany his habitual downfalls are what brings them unto him. As a person, Bruno is far too trusting, opportunistic, and idealistic. He possesses a good heart but fails to acknowledge his own naivety and thus is doomed to repeat past mistakes. When things are at their absolute worst, he and his elderly neighbor (who has made the trip with him) blame the governmental and bureaucratic policies of their new home instead of relying on introspective thinking to see where they might have gone wrong. In a way, it's a bit of a one-sided statement in examination of "nature v. nurture" as even the third member of the German trio, a prostitute named Eva, quickly finds boredom and fiscal frustration in her job waitressing and resorts back to her old, frolicking ways.

My own perspective and musings aside, there is a bit of a qualm Herzog seems to have with America, but it ties mostly back in to the perception of immigrates looking for handouts. Bruno draws a comparison between the American government and that of Nazi Germany saying both suppress their underlings but what one does physically and the other does with fine print and red tape. While the latter is clearly disadvantageous for foreign citizens the purpose of said line isn't nearly as easy to dissect and debates regarding the film's analysis will likely carry on for year's to come. However, once again this another example of the world according to Bruno and all outright critiques have come from him and result from his failings. He's a tragic character as we wish to cheer for him but perhaps he's better off not for this country or this world for that matter as his opportunities to succeed in both were within his grasp.

We have a 10-80 out here, a truck on fire, we have a man on the lift. We are unable to find the switch to turn the lift off, can't stop the dancing chickens. Send an electrician, we're standing by.

And around it goes.

 

[high_five]

Kevin Smith owned!

 

[Line]

John Lasseter, 1995​

In creating my own art over the past 22 odd years, whether it be menial free-form sketchings or a complex of calculated building plans, I always found the creative process to be far more stimulating and rewarding in opposition to the actual act of constructionalism. Perhaps its that the ideological formation of what one truly wants to express that can lead to disappointment in terms of seeing its physical execution. That being said, there's something about Toy Story where the blended dreams of childhood innocence are executed majestically through beautiful animation and witty storytelling. While writing earlier essays for this very list I found it's not only easy but almost necessary from a critical standpoint to write in a state of astute reflectiveness, weighing in on the themes I feel to be most critically important. The scenario here is a different one where our own "once upon a time" fantasies play out before our eyes through the more than capable hands of the Pixar team.

Longing and jealousy are two often explored themes, probably because its such a grand part of the human condition. Here we are presented with identifiable emotions that even children can relate to; problems that are seem minor during our more fragile, formative years that can be expanded and projected on to other instances as we grow. Its a rare gem of a film that, in a way, lives as a cinematic mirror for the aging of its fans by replicating opportunities and problems they both relate to and work through; endearing means such as love and friendship included, batteries are not.

 

[Daniel Andersson]

I like Toy Story

 

[Beefcake]

Kevin Smith owned!

 

[Paulie]

Toy Story is great. What about Finding Nemo?