|
Post by Mighty Jack on Aug 3, 2012 3:30:57 GMT -5
I'm just totally burnt out on arbitrary lists. It seems like 95% of all articles posted online are lists, and it's lazy writing. As Newmads said, the whole point of their existence is to get people to complain because that grabs attention. I remember when the AFI list came out in the mid 90s, and I hated it even back then. Every idiot suddenly had a strong opinion of Citizen Kane, even if they'd never made it past the news reel. It's tough enough to evaluate the best films in any given year, even within genres. When you go into the greatest-of-all-time category, it's just a subjective mess of nonsense. La Jetee and 12 Monkeys are so different, they don't even feel like they're part of the same art form. Yet both films tell the same story. If I can't compare their relative worth, I don't know how I'm going to compare every movie ever made. The way I look at it, it's not life and death. If someone asks you to compare relative worth... for a movie. I mean Christmas, that's not like someone is asking you to do brain surgery. It's not that serious, you can't pick wrong. I personally like lists, I like writing them up in the same way some people enjoy working on a brain teaser or playing words games or doing a Rubiks cube. It's a silly, light hearted challenge, and whatever I come up with is okay, it's not like I'm establishing a law. You used the term "nonsense". Your right, it is -- but so what (heck, most of this forum is built up around subjective nonsense). I don't really care one way or the other who Sight and Sound picks as their #1 movie, but I do enjoy gabbing about it, debating it -- and I've been enjoying my exchanges with chicken on this thread. But hell, if your burnt out on stuff like this, your burnt out.
|
|
|
Post by BJ on Aug 3, 2012 7:26:17 GMT -5
It's not that I take it too seriously, it's the apathy. I thought Vertigo was terrible, but if 200 faceless people think it's the best movie ever, good for them. I know full well I'm in the minority.
I agree with you that nonsensical debate is fun, particularly with film, but I need some limitations. Best ever is far too broad to be meaningful for any established art form, and you're quickly left comparing apples to oranges. Who's better, Pollock or Monet? If someone asked me that, I'd think they have brain damage.
I enjoy alternate Oscar or film-vs-film types of discussion, but this GoaT stuff is just a free for all that I get nothing out of.
|
|
|
Post by afriendlychicken on Aug 3, 2012 16:43:56 GMT -5
"Just repeat to yourself it's just a list, I should really just relax." Yeah, Plissken, I agree lists can get boring. And the overwhelming "look at my list" lists online can be irritating, especially when they're presented not as a personal list but as LAW!. The only reason I decided to post this was because Sight and Sound is the oldest and most respected of the film lists and, admittedly, does tend to lean toward art-films. But of course it's not written in stone. I just like to see the way the thinking toward films and directors changes over time. Most of the films on the original 1952 version aren't even on the list anymore. And like T? P? MJ?, I enjoy the good debate a well thought out list can create. TP, I hope you enjoy Love Me Tonight. EDIT: And if I was to make a top 50 film list of all the films that I like, Monty Python and the Holy Grail would be on it. It's brilliant damn it!
|
|
|
Post by BJ on Aug 3, 2012 20:46:41 GMT -5
Ha, when I started thinking of great films that would never make a list like this, Holy Grail and Airplane! were the first to pop into my head.
|
|
|
Post by Mighty Jack on Aug 4, 2012 1:44:41 GMT -5
Speaking of which, and of a brain teasers I couldn't crack... I recently attempted to do a "best of", culled from my alt-Oscar picks - and after a while I realised I couldn't do it. It got too big - so I narrowed it down to a top 10, and came up with this...
1. On the Waterfront/Seven Samurai (tie) 2. The Passion of Joan of Arc 3. Citizen Kane 4. The General 5. Vertigo 6. 8 ½ 7. The Apartment 8. Casablanca 9. Lost in Translation 10. Bicycle Thieves
But afterwards I was like, but there's no Viridiana, no Chinatown, no 3 Colors Red, or Bergman or westerns! And the truth is, I have 50 or so #1 movies and trying to break them up was a fools game.
|
|
|
Post by afriendlychicken on Aug 5, 2012 0:06:42 GMT -5
That's a nice list. Let me see if I can think of one. Oh, this is going to be painful...okay, in alphabetical order: 1. 2001: A Space Odyssey 2. Citizen Kane 3. Cries and Whispers 4. Ikiru 5. Once Upon a Time in the West 6. M (I keep debating between this and "Metropolis." I could change my mind tomorrow.) 7. A Matter of Life and Death 8. The Passion of Joan of Arc 9. Solaris (Again, this could easily become "Andrei Rublov." But I'll choose it because it's more accessible.) 10. Vertigo I so much wanted to get Seven Samurai & Seventh Seal on there, but I decided on one per director. And I love Buster Keaton. I'm a damfino member. If I added another ten the two movies above and "Sherlock, Jr." would be on it. I like "Sherlock, Jr." because it's so wonderfully surreal. That pool ball sequence is brilliant. EDIT: A had "Sansho the Bailiff" on the list when I meant to put "A Matter of Life and Death." "Sansho" would also end up in my next ten. For me it would be easier to list my favorite ten by country.
|
|
|
Post by Mighty Jack on Aug 5, 2012 15:32:54 GMT -5
Sherlock's wonderful, I love that one as well. A Matter of Life and Death is another great one. I haven't seen Shansho in ages - I remember it as superb but real gut wrenching. I forced myself to put something on from the past 20 years to keep it current... but later realized I'd left a big gap in the middle, and completely ignored the brilliant 70s. So many movies, so few spots to put them in. A top 10 by decade would be easier.
|
|