mimetic cinematic memetic
Early morning at Omama, and I have two free periods in a row. Nothing to do but propogate a LiveJournal meme! I normally pass on those, but this one is fun: take the IMDB Top 250 Movies and bold the ones you’ve seen. The IMDB ranking is far from a critical list – much as I enjoyed it, Return of the King is not the fourth best movie of all time – but it seems like a good enough place to start. After I’m done, I should be able to make a short-yet-embarassing list of “movies I really, really need to see ASAP.” For bonus embarassment, I will italicize movies I either own on DVD or have downloaded off the Interweb, but have yet to watch. For those of you with other things to do today, there will be a statistical breakdown and analysis at the end – feel free to skip straight there.
(Note: As this entry is rather long, I’ll move it to a separate HTML page once I get home this afternoon. But remote web updating means you get a big, fat infodump for now.)
IMDB top 250 movies (ones I’ve seen bolded)
001. The Godfather (1972)
002. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
003. The Godfather: Part II (1974)
004. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
005. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
006. Schindler’s List (1993)
007. Casablanca (1942)
008. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, (2001)
009. Seven Samurai (1954)
010. Star Wars (1977)
011. Citizen Kane (1941)
012. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
013. Dr. Strangelove (1964)
014. Rear Window (1954)
015. Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
016. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
017. Memento (2000)
018. The Usual Suspects (1995)
019. Pulp Fiction (1994)
020. North by Northwest (1959)
021. Amelie (2001)
022. Psycho (1960)
023. 12 Angry Men (1957)
024. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
025. The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (1966)
026. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
027. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
028. Goodfellas (1990)
029. American Beauty (1999)
030. Vertigo (1958)
031. Sunset Blvd. (1950)
032. The Matrix (1999)
033. Apocalypse Now (1979)
034. The Pianist (2002)
035. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
036. Some Like It Hot (1959)
037. Taxi Driver (1976)
038. Once Upon a Time in The West (1968)
039. The Third Man (1949)
040. Paths of Glory (1957)
041. Fight Club (1999)
042. Spirited Away (2001)
043. Das Boot (1981)
044. Double Indemnity (1944)
045. L.A. Confidential (1997)
046. Chinatown (1974)
047. Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
048. Requiem for a Dream (2000)
049. The Maltese Falcon (1941)
050. M (1931)
051. All About Eve (1950)
052. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
053. Se7en (1995)
054. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
055. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
056. Raging Bull (1980)
057. City of God (2002)
058. Rashomon (1950)
059. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
060. The Sting (1973)
061. Alien (1979)
062. American History X (1998)
063. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
064. Leon: The Professional (1994)
065. Life is Beautiful (1997)
066. Touch of Evil (1958)
067. The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
068. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
069. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
070. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
071. The Great Escape (1963)
072. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
073. Reservoir Dogs (1992)
074. Amadeus (1984)
075. Annie Hall (1977)
076. Jaws (1975)
077. Ran (1985)
078. On the Waterfront (1954)
079. Modern Times (1936)
080. Braveheart (1995)
081. High Noon (1952)
082. The Apartment (1960)
083. The Sixth Sense (1999)
084. Fargo (1996)
085. Aliens (1986)
086. The Shining (1980)
087. Strangers on a Train (1951)
088. Blade Runner (1982)
089. Metropolis (1927)
090. Duck Soup (1933)
091. Finding Nemo (2003)
092. Donnie Darko (2001)
093. The General (1927)
094. Toy Story 2 (1999)
095. The Princess Bride (1987)
096. City Lights (1931)
097. Run Lola Run (1998)
098. The Great Dictator (1940)
099. Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)
100. The Seventh Seal (1957)
101. Notorious (1946)
102. Full Metal Jacket (1987)
103. Cinema Paradiso (1989)
104. Rebecca (1940)
105. Princess Mononoke (1997)
106. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
107. The Big Sleep (1946)
108. The Graduate (1967)
109. Manhattan (1979)
110. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
111. It Happened One Night (1934)
112. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
113. Patton (1970)
114. The Searchers (1956)
115. The Deer Hunter (1978)
116. Glory (1989)
117. The Bicycle Thief (1948)
118. The Philadelphia Story (1940)
119. Yojimbo (1961)
120. The African Queen (1951)
121. Bringing Up Baby (1938)
122. Forrest Gump (1994)
123. Ben-Hur (1959)
124. Cool Hand Luke (1967)
125. The Green Mile (1999)
126. Shrek (2001)
127. Talk to Her (2002)
128. Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
129. Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi (1983)
130. Unforgiven (1992)
131. Stalag 17 (1953)
132. Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
133. The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
134. Gone with the Wind (1939)
135. The Night of the Hunter (1955)
136. The Wild Bunch (1969)
137. The Straight Story (1999)
138. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
139. A Christmas Story (1983)
140. The Elephant Man (1980)
141. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
142. The Hustler (1961)
143. Platoon (1986)
144. Young Frankenstein (1974)
145. Back to the Future (1985)
146. His Girl Friday (1940)
147. Die Hard (1988)
148. Grand Illusion (1937)
149. Monsters, Inc. (2001)
150. Amores Perros (2000)
151. The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
152. Almost Famous (2000)
153. The Gold Rush (1925)
154. Spartacus (1960)
155. The Conversation (1974)
156. Charade (1963)
157. Life of Brian (1979)
158. Gladiator (2000)
159. The Celebration (1998)
160. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
161. Wild Strawberries (1957)
162. Being John Malkovich (1999)
163. Battleship Potemkin (1925)
164. Magnolia (1999)
165. Sling Blade (1996)
166. Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
167. Toy Story (1995)
168. The Insider (1999)
169. Roman Holiday (1953)
170. Mulholland Dr. (2001)
171. A Night at the Opera (1935)
172. Brazil (1985)
173. A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
174. The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
175. All the President’s Men (1976)
176. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
177. The Exorcist (1973)
178. The 400 Blows (1959)
179. To Be or Not to Be (1942)
180. Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
181. The Killing (1956)
182. Lost in Translation (2003)
183. Mystic River (2003)
184. Ed Wood (1994)
185. The Terminator (1984)
186. Red (1994)
187. Adaptation (2002)
188. Nosferatu (1922)
189. Stand by Me (1986)
190. Twelve Monkeys (1995)
191. Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
192. Harvey (1950)
193. This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
194. The Right Stuff (1983)
195. Gandhi (1982)
196. Trainspotting (1996)
197. Network (1976)
198. Midnight Cowboy (1969)
199. The Lion in Winter (1968)
200. Miller’s Crossing (1990)
201. Minority Report (2002)
202. Hero (2002)
203. Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
204. The Others (2001)
205. Rain Man (1988)
206. Laura (1944)
207. Groundhog Day (1993)
208. Stagecoach (1939)
209. 8 1/2 (1963)
210. Snatch (2000)
211. King Kong (1933)
212. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)
213. The 39 Steps (1935)
214. Traffic (2000)
215. La Strada (1954)
216. The Untouchables (1987)
217. Rio Bravo (1959)
218. Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
219. Henry V (1989)
220. Whale Rider (2002)
221. The Big Lebowski (1998)
222. Beauty and the Beast (1991)
223. All About My Mother (1999)
224. Joan of Arc (1928)
225. In the Heat of the Night (1967)
226. The Thin Man (1934)
227. The Killer (1989)
228. Planet of the Apes (1968)
229. Good Will Hunting (1997)
230. Fantasia (1940)
231. Being There (1979)
232. Red River (1948)
233. Clerks (1994)
234. A Beautiful Mind (2001)
235. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
236. Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
237. M*A*S*H* (1970)
238. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
239. Road to Perdition (2002)
240. The Man Who Would Be King (1975)
241. The Quiet Man (1952)
242. Sleuth (1972)
243. X2: X-Men United (2003)
244. JFK (1991)
245. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
246. O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
247. Heat (1995)
248. The Sweet Hereafter (1997)
249. The Birds (1963)
250. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
Statistical breakdown: 10/10, 19/20, 36/50, 68/100, 123/250
Movies I own but have yet to watch: 11
Movies I feel I should really see: North by Northwest; Lawrence of Arabia; The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly; The Maltese Falcon; American History X; The Manchurian Candidate; Planet of the Apes; Treasure of the Sierra Madre; The Elephant Man; Die Hard; The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance; everything by Hitchcock
Top five movies I would recommend you see if you haven’t: Singin’ in the Rain, Unforgiven, Donnie Darko, The Man Who Would Be King, A Clockwork Orange
Three least favorite movies I’ve seen: Life is Beautiful, Glory, Forrest Gump
Most conspicuous absence: Moulin Rouge
Movie I haven’t seen that most offends you by its omission: please leave a comment!
CSS 2.0
January 21, 2004 at 10:15 am
I wouldn’t go so far as to say they “offend me by their omission,” but I think you’d really enjoy Miller’s Crossing and Trainspotting both.
January 21, 2004 at 1:31 pm
I’m offended that Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure isn’t on the list. It should be at the top!
January 21, 2004 at 1:42 pm
You ought to see Stand By Me. It’s one of those movies where you watch it, and the whole time you’re saying, “oh, so THAT’S where that comes from. I get it now.”
January 21, 2004 at 1:53 pm
you must see: Apocalypse Now, 8 1/2, North by Northwest, and the Exorcist.
I also think you’ll really enjoy The Straight Story, which you have cued up.
I love Mulholland Drive, though you may not.
I also suggest the AFI’s top 100 to avoid having things like Shrek and The Princess Bride polluting your list.
http://www.afi.com/Docs/tvevents/pdf/movies100.pdf
In a similar vein, My quest for 2004 is to have at least 100 of Rolling Stone’s top 500 albums of all time (on CD, not pirated, Mr. pirate). I started last year at 43/500….
January 21, 2004 at 2:22 pm
“The Princess Bride polluting your list.”
I don’t know you anymore.
January 21, 2004 at 4:45 pm
I’m not offended by these ommisions, seeings as how I haven’t seen… Rear Window.
Buuuuut…
I’d definitely reccommend:
Red, (and the whole white/red/blue cycle)
Magnolia
Mulholland Drive ***
Just my picks. Thanks for the site.
-J
January 22, 2004 at 7:39 pm
I disagree on The Princess Bride – a top list as large as this should include the best from each genre, even if a genre is rather hokey. The Princess Bride may not measureup as an Adventure or Drama, but its one of the kings of the Campy Comedy sub genre and should be seen. The list does show a preponderance of such titles though, I agree. Pixar and Steve Jackson both deserve a nod somewhere in the list, but having nearly the full recent filmographies for both is ridiculous. One per, please.
In a similar vein, Evil Dead, Evil Dead 2, and Army of Darkness should be mandatory, though only one (Either ED2 or AoD depending on your prefs) deserves to be on the list I think.
January 22, 2004 at 7:42 pm
Also Shakespearean film deserves a mention. I’m a big fan of Branagh, though I wouldn’t be too disapointed if I had to settle for the Lawrence Olivier Hamlet.
January 24, 2004 at 5:54 am
Pah! Fie, FIE on the person who adds Magnolia to that list! Besides Boogie Nights, I’ve found PT Anderson’s recent works to be nothing more than excercises in “how can i make this a classic AND slightly subversive at the same time…?” Sorry, bitter that Magnolia sucked 3+ hours off my life, and then it rained FUCKING FROGS (note: my boyfriend thinks it’s the best use of celluloid EVER.)
Lawrence of Arabia, and while you’re at it, David Lean movies in general.
January 27, 2004 at 5:52 am
you left out police acadamy 4: citizens on patrol
and out of all those movies, i’ve seen 1 you haven’t — the Quiet Man. and return of the king isn’t the 4th best movie ever, it’s THE best movie EVER
February 9, 2004 at 4:55 am
I guess it
September 18, 2005 at 8:19 am
i’m disappointed in you not aving seen 400 blows, seventh seal, and wild strawberries. how dare you (see them and i’ll forgive you).
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May 3, 2006 at 9:32 am
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May 3, 2006 at 12:35 pm
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May 3, 2006 at 5:45 pm
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May 16, 2006 at 6:17 pm
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May 18, 2006 at 2:54 pm
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