The One-Line Review presents The 50 Greatest Films of All Time. Several of my favorites sit on this list: L’Avventura, Some Like It Hot, Chinatown, Pulp Fiction, just to name a few. Many of you will find that most of these hidden gems are a MUST see. Rent ‘em, buy ‘em, dowload ‘em…do whatcha gotta do to educate yourself!
(via Thompson On Hollywood )
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Anybody else ever get tired of seeing Citizen Kane at the top of these lists?
For me, its one of those films that is good, but I don’t particularly enjoy. I get that its an important film (I got the lecture in film school) but I feel like everyone puts it at number one because you’re supposed to think that its the greatest film of all time.
Why not Godfather 2 or maybe something a little more contemporary like There Will Be Blood (not saying I think its the best film of all time, just an example).
What do you guys think?
Yeah, I agree with you. That and the Godfather are always at the top. It is a great film though, introduced a lot of groundbreaking techniques but it’s almost like a given that it’ll be at the top….There Will Be Blood is a modern day masterpiece, along with No Country I think.
I am really glad to see Third Man on this list though. Everyone should see that film.
I agree Their Will Be Blood’s a classic, and No Country for Old Men is great, Vertigo is an overrated film, I mean It’s a great film, but thee second best film of all time.
And Casablanca, O.K. yeah yeah it’s Casablanca, but come on Dr. Strangelove: Or How I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb, is better I got to say it’s a classic, but it’s overrated, Casablanca that is, Dr. Strangelove: Or How I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb is simply a great film.
The only two films I haven’t seen are Do The Right Thing and L’Avventura. That’s pretty good for a 21 yr old, haha.
really? the most recent film on the list is pulp fiction…
I was kind of suprised to see 2001: A Space Odyssee at #3; that film always all over the place on Top Film polls, they either love it or hate it.
Staying with Kubrick, why is The Shining not on that list?
I was suprised that Goodfellas was not even on the list, normally you see that one in the top 5.
I think it will be a few more years before we start to see There Will Be Blood on top film lists.
I am tried of seeing Citizen Kane as number one. It has amazing camera work but the movie is not so good that nothing can top this film. Personally I did not even really like the film but for it time the camera work was mind-blowing. And poor Casablanca is always stuck behind Citizen Kane, and Casablanca is a great film.
I am happy to see my All-Time favorite film Taxi Driver in the top 10. Also like seeing Orson Welles in the top 10 twice.
I’m glad Chaplin is in there… even though I think the spot should have went to either ‘Modern Times’ or ‘The Great Dictator.’
Also, I would love to see ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ be in the top 50. Yes, I am one of THOSE fans (there seems to be strong lovers and haters of the film… just go to IMDb).
As long as Pulp Fiction is on that list, I’m good.
Obviously, it’s impossible to have a connection with every film ever made, but I hate the fact that I often don’t “get” a film that is so highly regarded.
Case in point, Taxi Driver. I watched it young, figured I didn’t understand it and then rewatched it again older and still don’t know what I’m missing there. Maybe I’ll go on IMDB and see if any of the monkeys have graduated and are able to explain it to me.
So there’s been two movies (Pulp Fiction and Do the Right Thing) released in my lifetime? I find that hard to believe. I love alot of the older movies, but it seems that time has aged them to a point of unquestionable greatness that I’m not sure all of them deserve. I hope that in the decades to come, a Top 50 list will include There Will Be Blood, etc. because if it’s the same list, that’ll be sad.
@7ate9 I wouldn’t worry about it. If you don’t get it, its probably because its not to your taste. I’ve seen Unforgiven like 6 times. I can totally see what Eastwood is doing with it, but I’ll never be able to enjoy it, I just don’t like the movie.
I enjoy looking at them and commenting on them, but when it comes down to it lists are ridiculous. If No Country and Blood had been on the list people would be upset that such recent films were included. I kind of prefer how AFI divides their lists into categories even if it suffers from the same problems as this one…
I agree that these lists are ridiculous. However, theyre a great way to discover movies that arent exactly sitting on the main display rack at the movie store (that spot is reserved for the Madea movies). That being said…Blade Runner??? and no Goodfellas or No Country????
I don’t know much about film criticism or the history of film. Only enough to assume that a movie that continually appears as one of the best of all time by those who are more educated than I am in the field, probably has the factor of innovation about it. For its time, it’s probably broken ground in technique, style, or subject. I would hazard to say that most of the films, especially in the top 20 or so, were courageous and unique at the time they were produced. So, while they age or have actually been bettered in terms of social or emotional impact, the more recent films are clearly standing on the greatness of the greatest films’ shoulders.
Being an art form, film critique is going to have a high percentage of subjectivity, as well. Many visual artists would find Rothko or Hockney dated or quaint, but they couldn’t deny that they impacted the field and led the way for new artists to expand on what they did.
That being said, I agree that Vertigo is tragically overrated, and The Big Lebowski rocks hard.