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NewslettersPOP: Best movie ever? Final four edition
We at PopPulse love the spotlight, that is why we rarely — as in never — turn over the reins of our blog. However, a frequent poster, Godzilla74, sent us this email rundown of his favorite movies, fighting it out, in NCAA basketball fashion, in a 1-46 tournament. He ends with three final winners (Note to Godzilla74: There is a reason the b-ball tourney participant total is divisible by four. It means there can be one winner. Much like Mad Max and Beyond Thunderdome.)
We found this interesting, particularly his somewhat unorthodox choices (Superman Returns makes the final 64 but not Casablanca? Crash but not Citizen Kane?) and his decisions on who to move on and who to kick out. It's a fun read, regardless of whether or not you agree.
But, since it is our blog, we felt free to interject a little common sense throughout the tourney.
So here is Godzilla74's Top 46 Movies of All-Time in a Bloodless Cage Match Tournament Showdown:
I took 46 films that I love and then arbitrarily ranked them 1 to 46. I then used a random number generator to pair them up, giving me 20 different match-ups.
Not too unlike the NCAA college basketball playoff system, I've pitted these films against each other in hopes of determining which is the best.
At the very least, doing it this way is a lot more interesting than just ranking them 1 to 46.
Round 1
Saving Private Ryan vs. The Silence of the Lambs
Winner: Saving Private Ryan
Why: While both films are incredibly directed and acted, there's a part of me that's been forever changed by Saving Private Ryan.
Alien vs. Unforgiven
Winner: Alien
Why: I really liked Unforgiven, but Alien is just so brilliantly done. Sure, I'm a sci fi geek at heart, and while I can appreciate Eastwood and Freeman's work, Alien is just so visceral, so primally terrifying. Sheer genius.
PopPulse: We find Alien highly overrated. And while Unforgiven is no Magnificent Seven, it is easily one of the five best westerns ever.
Kill Bill: Volume 1 vs. Collateral
Winner: Kill Bill Volume 1
Why: Great acting all around - for both films. Really, this is a bad draw for Collateral, which was Mann's best since Heat. Few things, however, kick more butt than Uma Thurman with a Hanzo blade and Quentin Tarantino's homage to martial arts flicks.
Star Wars vs. 28 Days Later
Winner: Star Wars
Why: Come on. It's Star Wars. 28 Days Later is the best zombie flick of all time (not including parodies, sorry Shaun of the Dead), but it just got a bad draw here against the progenitor of all great sci-fi.
The Empire Strikes Back vs. American Beauty
Winner: The Empire Strikes Back
Why: See above Star Wars-28 Days Later match-up. American Beauty was a great film, but come on ... this is Empire!
Dead Poet's Society vs. Fight Club
Winner: Fight Club
Why: Both films are poignant (yes, Fight Club is poignant) and poetic (yes, Fight Club is poetic). Both feature great performances, but Fight Club is so much more in tune with my generation, that it still resonates years after it came out.
Pulp Fiction vs. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring
Winner: Pulp Fiction
Why: Talk about a heavyweight match-up! Comparing these two films could provide enough material to fuel someone's doctoral thesis. Though it breaks the heart of my inner-hobbit, Pulp Fiction pulls out a squeaker here.
Batman Begins vs. Good Night, and Good Luck
Winner: Good Night, and Good Luck
Why: Talk about two films that are as different as dark knight and day! Both excellent, both with great performances. One day, maybe, Christian Bale will be the next David Strathairn. Maybe.
Legend of the Seven Samurai vs. Seven
Winner: Legend of the Seven Samurai
Why: No, the irony of the random number generator isn't lost on me. Bad draw for Seven, which was brilliant and dark, while Seven Samurai was Akira Kurosawa's masterpiece that found the light behind the dark.
The Natural vs. The Hudsucker Proxy
Winner: The Natural
Why: I think Hudsucker is one of the most brilliant comedies of the last three decades, but The Natural is an instant classic, harkening back to the golden age of Hollywood when there were clearly drawn lines between good and bad.
PopPulse: We like that both The Natural and The Hudsucker Proxy both made the cut. And we also agree that The Natural is the better film. Really, we have nothing to add. That is all.
Raising Arizona vs. The Godfather Part II
Winner: The Godfather Part II
Why: Enter this match-up into the "not fair" category. There are a lot of great films that are really just apples and oranges, but I have to be fair to the random number generator. Godfather 2 is amazing. Arizona is, too, but it just can't compare.
Scent of a Woman vs. The Truman Show
Winner: Scent of a Woman
Why: I hated voting down Truman here, but Al Pacino is just ferocious and brilliant here. Jim Carrey is brilliant, too, but he hasn't quite come into his own enough to dethrone Pacino just yet.
PopPulse: Scent of a Woman is HIGHLY overrated. First, it has Chris O'Donnell in it. We once heard him described as coming across like "the dumb guy on the high school golf team." Now, that is brilliant. Second, take away Pacino's scene-eating performance, and it is incredibly predictable (gruff guy, with a secret heart of gold, warms to young protégé, complete with courtroom finale and impassioned speech. Yawn.) Plus, this movie forever ruined Pacino, who will never go back to his understated brilliance of his early work. Now every line Must BUild TO A SCREAM! Hoo Ah!
Aliens vs. Glory
Winner: Glory
Why: Denzel, Broderick, Freeman ... need I go on? Aliens was a testosterone-soaked brilliant sequel that left a huge imprint on all future military films, but it's all eye candy compared to Glory.
Chinatown vs. Heat
Winner: Chinatown
Why: Two great crime films. Heat has one of the best gunfight scenes ever made, while Chinatown is a slow-burning affair. Both have great acting — Heat has a scene with Pacino and DeNiro together! But it's good ol' Jack that edges them both, laying the groundwork for all hard-nosed gumshoes to come.
The Mission vs. Goodfellas
Winner: Goodfellas
Why: I don't know if anyone else has seen The Mission, but it's amazing. This was arguably DeNiro's finest work. But with the backing of Scorsese and Pesci, Goodfellas pulls out a win here.
Crash vs. Good Will Hunting
Winner: Crash
Why: Good Will Hunting was a great film with great performances, but all of its "goodness" can't compare to the brilliance of Crash's ensemble.
PopPulse: Crash? Seriously? It even makes the cut? Yeah, OK, we're sick of "How do you like those apples?" But Good Will certainly beats Crash. Hands down. Recount!
The Untouchables vs. Field of Dreams
Winner: Field of Dreams
Why: Two great Kevin Costner films here. I love Untouchables mainly for the father-son Connery-Costner connection on-screen, but I can't watch Field of Dreams without being amazed by James Earl Jones and the film's closing scenes.
L.A. Confidential vs. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Winner: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Why: L.A. Confidential brought a lot of heat to the screen with amazing performances, but CTHD was simply a work of living, breathing, butt-kicking art.
Little Miss Sunshine vs. Memento
Winner: Little Miss Sunshine
Why: As much as I love Memento's unique storytelling, Little Miss Sunshine was just about as perfect a film as you could ask for ... minus the super-ultra-mega-extended version of "Super Freak" at the film's close that just ended ridiculously.
The Matrix vs. The Shawshank Redemption
Winner: The Shawshank Redemption
Why: A strange match-up here. Both tell great stories of heroic redemption. One kicks butt; the other tugs on heartstrings. Ultimately, Shawshank is a film that always brings a tear to my eye for the power and beauty of its story, and my memories of the original Matrix are soiled by its two inept sequels.
A Few Good Men vs. Superman Returns
Winner: Superman Returns
Why: I know. I know. A Few Good Men has better actors and better acting. It has a gritty, compelling story. It has Kevin Bacon! By all measures this film is superior. What it doesn't have, though, is one of the most incredible father-son scenes of all time. At the end of Superman, when he's talking to his son ... telling him "You will be different" ... that's just amazing. I don't know if that moment is more powerful than "You can't handle the truth!" but I know it moves me.
The Usual Suspects vs. Raiders of the Lost Ark
Winner: Raiders of the Lost Ark
Why: Who is Keyser Soze? Just some guy that Indiana Jones would punch in the mouth, while escaping with his most prized artifact for preservation in a museum.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind vs. Forrest Gump
Winner: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Why: Gump is great. No doubt. Hanks is one of the most amazing actors ever. Period. But in this match-up, Jim Carrey's performance combined with the amazing story just overwhelm Gump's feel-good gumption.
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid vs. Reservoir Dogs
Winner: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Why: Despite being made a different times in Hollywood's evolution, both films are classics. One, however, borrows a lot from, and is inspired by, the other. BC&TSK is just incredibly well done and even Quentin Tarantino would have to admit that his films pay homage to it - and other films - on many levels. Who can forget the ending?
Round 2
After re-randomizing the remaining 24 films, here is the next round of match-ups.
Saving Private Ryan vs. Raiders of the Lost Ark
Winner: Saving Private Ryan
Why: Tom Hanks. "Earn this."
Alien vs. Little Miss Sunshine
Winner: Alien
Why: Chest-bursting alien eats heart-warming 'tweenager.
Kill Bill Volume 1 vs. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Winner: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Why: No matter how much butt she kicks, the Yellow Haired Warrior is no match for the mythical Li Mu Bi.
PopPulse: We'd have to put KBV1 ahead of Crouching Tiger. Yeah, yeah, Crouching Tiger has all that romantic stuff. But KBV1 has the great scene where Uma fights, like, 100 yakuza guys in masks.
Pulp Fiction vs. Superman Returns
Winner: Pulp Fiction
Why: Say "why" again. Say "why" again, !#$@%%#! I dare ya'.
[img]http://www.godfatherfilms.com/films_images/mike-fredo-kiss.jpg/img]
Good Night, and Good Luck vs. The Godfather Part II
Winner: The Godfather Part II
Why: I know it was you Fredo. You broke my heart. You broke my heart!
The Natural vs. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Winner: The Natural
Why: Robert Redford is amazing. I pick the movie where he lives happily ever after.
Scent of a Woman vs. Fight Club
Winner: Scent of a Woman
Why: Tyler Durden's the kind of guy that Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade would chew up and spit out without breaking a sweat before sitting down for his breakfast.
Glory vs. Empire Strikes Back
Winner: Empire Strikes Back
Why: Boba Fett.
Chinatown vs. The Shawshank Redemption
Winner: The Shawshank Redemption
Why: Just too many powerful performances comparatively.
Goodfellas vs. Field of Dreams
Winner: Field of Dreams
Why: Goodfellas probably should have won for Best Picture, but Field of Dreams leaves me optimistic about the human condition, whereas Fellas just makes me want to lie, cheat, steal, sell drugs and otherwise commence felonies.
PopPulse: We LOVE Field of Dreams. Love it. But better than Goodfellas? No. Now go get your shinebox!
Crash vs. Legend of the Seven Samurai
Winner: Crash
Why: If Akria Kurosawa was born 30 years later, he'd be our Spielberg, Lucas, and Paul Haggis all rolled into one. Crash wins with the advantage of acting and a story audiences can more readily relate to.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind vs. Star Wars
Winner: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Why: Something had to knock-out Star Wars, and it might as well be this film. Talk about apples and oranges ... two entirely different films here. Carrey's portrayal of Joel is often more heroic and tragic than any of the Star Wars characters, and he doesn't need a high medi-chlorine count or whatever the hell that lame plot point was.
PopPulse: Again, love ESSM. Great movie. But not better than Star Wars. How dare you! And, yes, we've grown to hate George Lucas these past 10 years. But we're not taking it out on Luke and Leia and Han. The kids come first.
Round 3
More randomization. Enjoy. You could say these are my top 12 films.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind vs. Alien
Winner: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Why: Jim Carrey > Sigourney Weaver
Field of Dreams vs. Scent of a Woman
Winner: Scent of a Woman
Why: Al Pacino is just ferocious and in two films filled with sentiment and poignant moments, Pacino barely edges James Earl Jones' "blackboard" speech.
Crash vs. The Godfather Part II
Winner: The Godfather Part II
Why: Very similar films. Great ensemble acting. But the star power of Godfather II is just too much, no matter how much I love Don Cheadle.
PopPulse: "Similar films"? Where are the similarities? Was Godfather 2 derivative and manipulative and melodramatic and preachy? Was Crash, basically, awesome? Yes and No.
The Shawshank Redemption vs. The Natural
Winner: The Shawshank Redemption
Why: Morgan Freeman's narration, acting, and chemistry with Tim Robbins makes the difference here.
Pulp Fiction vs. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Winner: Pulp Fiction
Why: Two films that are equally as comfortable playing in art houses as the mainstream, Pulp Fiction nudges Tiger thanks mainly to Travolta and Jackson.
Saving Private Ryan vs. Empire Strikes Back
Winner: Saving Private Ryan
Why: The best sequel of all time isn't enough to topple Ryan, which isn't really about saving one man from physical harm. It's about saving our own humanity in the face of great horror.
Round 4 - Final Round
More randomization. You could say these are my top six films.
Saving Private Ryan vs. The Shawshank Redemption
Winner: Saving Private Ryan
Why: Tom Hanks.
Pulp Fiction vs. The Godfather Part II
Winner: Pulp Fiction
Why: Ezekiel 25:17
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind vs. Scent of a Woman
Winner: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Why: Incredible story. Incredible acting. Incredible cast.
PopPulse: We would never list these as our three favorite films, but three favorite of the last 10 years? They'd be in the top 5. What do you think? Join the discussion.
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Thanks for posting my Movie list.
I had originally meant to do a top 10, but that quickly evolved into a top 20, then a top 30, etc... so I couldn't stop adding films, basically.
Then, I was caught in the no-man's land of trying to add enough films to make a 64 list so that I could make the darn thing divisible by 4, but I just didn't have the heart. I was lazy, in short.
Also, I wanted to, originally, just include films that came out during the last 33 years, to match with the number of years I've been alive. But then I added Kurosawa's pic and that theory went all to Hell.
I could, and should, have added Casablanca, Laurence of Arabia, and any number of great films from the 1940s through the early 1970s. But, again, I was lazy.
And looking back, Scent of a Woman should have been put out much sooner, I think, and Kill Bill Vol. 1 probably could have gone another round.
However, I'll stand by my affection and appreciation for Crash and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
Maybe I have more of a connection for those films because I saw them in the theatre, while other films I had to rent. Star Wars is amazing, but I don't have the benefit of remembering my experience watching it in theatres, because I was barely two or three years old. The impact is lost on me for that film, while for other films, that visceral impact is still very much with me.
I should have also added Enter the Dragon, The French Connection and a half dozen other flicks that are now popping in my head.
Dangit.
Swingers, Tombstone, SCHINDLER'S LIST, ET, The Killer, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Back to the Future, JAWS, Silence of the Lambs, 2001 ... still good list. Maybe we'll do our top 64.
I think this list would do well on the third floor of Worcester Hall, my old UMD dormitory, but as an all-time list, it's kind of woefully inadequate. In no age, century or parallel universe does "Crash" make any Top 10-50 list. Never. I liked that movie. I'd ever venture to say that I liked it "a lot." But there are so many holes in this list, just so many, I was on the verge of busting a serious infarction just reading it. I mean, there's barely anything pre-1980! And don't even cite "Seven Samurai." That doesn't count. EVERYONE is down with that movie — even the vast majority of those who haven't seen it. But let's just list the filmmakers missing here, many of whom deserve to be on it:
1. Scorsese — Yeah, OK, you got "GoodFellas." That doesn't count. Everyone loves "GoodFellas." My pet dachsund, Maxine, has, from time to time, expressed a fondness for "GoodFellas."
2. Hitchcock — Two words: Rear. Window.
3. DeSica — "Bicycle Thieves" or "Umberto D." Take your dang pick.
4. Fellini — "I Vitelloni" or "8 1/2." Moving on.
5. Wilder — "The Apartment" or "Sunset Boulevard" or "Ace In the Hole"
6. Kazan — "On the Waterfront" or "A Streetcar Named Desire"
I could go on. Godard, Truffaut, et cetera.
But c'mon.
Man up.
"Lost Weekend", 1945 with Ray Milland. This is the movie that taught me and my young teen friends to stop after the second drink - lifelong.
With all the binge drinking going on now on college campuses it might help for all high school freshman to see "Lost Weekend". Then, during high school senior year they should see "The Days of Wine and Roses" (1962), that one was an Academy Award winner. With these two movies under their belt they might have a better chance at those fratenity parties.
That was a movie, alright, right up there with Days of Wine and Roses.
My personal fav, though is Shrek :)
I've never seen "Lost Weekend," but I've heard it's quite good. It won Best Picture. Another good movie that is, among many other things, about the perils of drinking would have to be "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" Mike Nichols first picture after he left Broadway. Great performances, and nearly the entire movie takes place in one room.
At the same time, I think any good horror movie tends to advise teenagers not to drink. Or do drugs. Or have sex. Or essentially induldge in any manner whatsoever. This is one reason I've never understood people who criticze horror movies for setting poor examples or encouraging violence or what have you. They're basically saying precisely what my father said to me growing up: "If you go to that party, that's fine. But if you so much as pick up an alcoholic beverage, I will have you hanging from a meat hook in a restaurant freezer by the end of the night. ... I love you. Have fun. Drive safely."
So, basically, John Carpenter and Wes Craven are just probably good parents.
Arthur, great movie, back in the '80s, when we thought alcoholics could be fun and cute. Then we all got so serious. OOoh, drinking's bad. Wah Wah. What are you looking at!? I'm fine! I'm not drunk, I have a cold! Leave me alone!
And ... scene.
Although there are plenty of great roles about alcoholics, one that pops into mind recently is the character of Evelyn Wright, played by Cloris Leachman, in "Spanglish." That movie is probably one of James L. Brooks most uneven, but it's got some really great stuff in it, particularly from Leachman. She plays an alcoholic, retired jazz singer. Great piece of dialogue while she's giving marital advice to her whiny, self-indulgent daughter, played by Tea Leoni:
Deborah Clasky: You were an alcoholic and wildly promiscuous woman during my formative years so that I'm in this fix because of you. It is your fault, and I just needed that moment for us to build on.
Evelyn: You have a solid point, dear. But right now, the lessons of my life are coming in handy for you.
Jcribbs. You obviously missed the point of my clarification. But allow me to repeat it. I readily acknowledged that my list is woefully inadequate - mainly due to my laziness.
I agree that I missed some great films and directors. But, oh wait. I already said that (re: clarification).
Just a third, and final, reminder: I initially wanted to stay with films that had only come out since I'd been born, so there was bound to be a bunch of pre-1974 films that just didn't make it on. But you missed that point.
But I'm glad my list has generated discussion (no matter how illiterate). That was the point. So thanks for making it work.
IF, and this is a big IF for you J - can I call you J? - you could stop looking down your elitist film snob nose for a moment and JUST consider my list as a BEST OF list from the last 33 years, you might find some enjoyment in it. But then again, elitist film snobs like you who praise the efforts of such overrated hack-jobs as DeSica and Fellini - seriously, who (besides the two of us) even know who these guys are or have watched their films? - are not likely to find enjoyment in anything without picking it apart.
You have a sickness, but I share it and understand it.
However, you're just wrong about Crash. I'm glad - in the spirit of elitist film snobs (which you are) - that you've decided to take the "I'm so smart I know more than the Academy" approach. OBVIOUSLY the Academy has gotten the best film award wrong before. Example: The King And I was far superior to Around the World in 80 Days (1956). The Sound of Music over Dr. Zhivago? What? The list could go on and on.
But not with Crash.
Look at the nominees: Brokeback Mountain, Capote, Crash, Good Night, and Good Luck, Munich.
Now tell me, exactly, how any of those films are better? Maybe ... MAYBE Good Night, and Good Luck is. And I actually was secretly hoping it would win, but nope.
So, how about you "man up" and get off the "I like Crash, but I hate it because it's overrated" bandwagon - which Mr. Poppulse is driving - and just admit that Crash is not just a good film; it's a great film and it deserves to make a top list of some kind - in this case, my kind.
FYI, The Birds is by far more effective - thus better - than Rear Window. Or did you just dig up that film thanks to Shia LaBeouf's Disturbia remake? North By Northwest is so much better than Rear Window, as well. Puh-leaze.
I think Wilder is overrated, and I think without Brando, Kazan never gets to make On the Waterfront and his career plummets into obscurity.
"I could go on. Godard, Truffaut, et cetera."
Are you insane or just low on brain cells?
Or are you French? You seem to love your one-trick, foreign directors, whose work is so utterly pretentious that only an ... elitist film snob would even bother to mention them.
Come down from the Ivory Tower and exhale.
It's okay to like Crash. Really. A few thousand members of the Academy seemed to think it was pretty decent, so why not you?
Once you've recovered from your shattered reality, I'd LOVE to put together a WORST FILMS ever list with you.
For the record, we never said we liked Crash. A little too self indulgent and manipulative. We do like Good Night, though.
And you're wrong about Rear Window (Best. Hitchcock. Ever.) But right about Fellini (we don't care about the circus).
So, we've got the score, Godzilla 2, Jcribbs 1. Play ball, fellas.
I'm coming back to this list again. I still don't like it. Not doing it for me. A failure on all levels.
I'm just glancing at your response here, and you've invalidated yourself with the following comment:
"FYI, The Birds is by far more effective - thus better - than Rear Window. … North By Northwest is so much better than Rear Window."
Seriously. Yikes. I heard that question ("Which is better: 'Rear Window' or 'The Birds'?") is on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, and if you answer, "The Birds," a psychiatrist is supposed to prescribe you psychostimulants because you're about three inches from losing your freakin' mind. Were you issued a driver's license? Or a weapon of some sort? … You don't have to operate complicated machinery or anything like that, right?
I'm only looking out for you, Godzilla74. Only you.
(By the way, if you want, I'll ship you a copy of "Dial M for Murder," which trumps all your sub-par Hitchcock picks. Honestly, it's no trouble. I have no problem dropping $10 on someone in desperate need.)