AFI's new Top 100: Shawshank, Spartacus in, Patton, Fargo out

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My rule of thumb for a year is what is nominated for Best Picture.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_Award_for_Best_Picture

Some years, nothing really blows me away.

 

Clooney very much embodies that spirit.

 

I agree. Damon does, also.

 

Third Man and The Manchurian Candidate being dropped is total bullshit. As is the contined exclusion of Once Upon A Time In The West (or if you want a more popular Leone film choice, The Good, The Bad And The Ugly), which is usually on every other one of these top 100s elsewhere. For that matter, Metropolis should be on there too.

I've got no qualms with Fargo being dropped. It's a good movie, but even at the time I thought it was overrated. I don't even think it's the best Coen Brothers movie, a nod I'd give to Miller's Crossing.

There's waaaay too many Charlie Chaplin films. And Baby Boomers will kick my ass but both The Graduate and especially Midnight Cowboy are overrated.

I don't mind Lord Of The Rings and Saving Private Ryan being added, but Sixth Sense and freaking Titanic?

As for Citizen Kane, keep in mind that it is to films in 1941 as the Beatles were to rock 'n roll in the mid 60s. It is a great film that was innovative in every way -- from its non-linear plot, to the way Welles shot it, to the performances of the actors, to its dark-for-its-time finish. In essence, it completely reinvented the way films are made.

We're used to seeing all of these devices in films today, back then, it was revolutionary.

 

Good to see The Godfather move up a notch to No. 2. In my mind, it should be No. 1 with a bullet. I am with the poster who dislikes Citizen Kane. I understand it was innovative and all of that, but it is simply a boring movie to me. I would put it in the top 50 based solely on its innovation.

Did I miss something or shouldn't Return of the King be the LOTR movie represented? Is it not eligible yet? I would have to imagine it would be top 20 when it is.

 

Except the years when the Academy takes a collective crap, like when "Shakespeare in Love" took best picture ahead of "Private Ryan."

 

Here we go....

BTW, I'm with you on that one, crusoes.

 

I don't find it in the slightest bit boring, but to each his own.

Saying it sucked (and acting like even including it discredits your list) is WAY over the top, regardless of your opinion on the movie, though.

 

They were debating this on the radio this morning...

Get 100 people and tell them they can choose between watching The Godfather or Citizen Kane, probably 90 would pick The Godfather...

I must say I agree...

 

Get 100 people and tell them they can choose between reading The Grapes of Wrath and The Da Vinci Code, and probably 99 would choose the Da Vinci Code.

In other words, what's your point?

 

Forrest Gump and Titanic don't hold up the way Shawshank and Pulp Fiction do...

 

Orson Welles is a genius. A lot of what he did in Kane just goes over the head of regular folks. Most people would probably say that the Godfather was a more entertaining movie but the real movie insiders appreciate what all Welles did in every frame of Kane.

So what makes a movie American? The financing? How is Lawrence of Arabia (one of my all-time favorites that everyone should see on a big screen someday) an American film?