IMDb's Top 10 Films: Do you agree?

[CleanShavenJesus]

Shawshank Redemption was an enjoyable movie, but hardly great cinema.

This list is obviously the product of shallow people, with little life experience, minimal exposure to the great films in history, and abysmal taste and sensibility.

Where is Alien?

Interesting...

[Rev. Rye]

And there's no Kubrick until #39 (Dr. Strangelove). Something is very wrong here.

[Angrboda]

Shawshank Redemption was an enjoyable movie, but hardly great cinema.

This list is obviously the product of shallow people, with little life experience, minimal exposure to the great films in history, and abysmal taste and sensibility.

Where is Alien?

Interesting...

Alien garnered both critical acclaim and box office success, receiving an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, Saturn Awards for Best Science Fiction Film, Best Direction for Scott, and Best Supporting Actress for Cartwright, and a Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, along with numerous other award nominations. It has remained highly praised in subsequent decades, being inducted into the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress in 2002 for historical preservation as a film which is "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". In 2008 it was ranked as the seventh-best film in the science fiction genre by the American Film Institute, and as the 33rd-greatest movie of all time by Empire magazine.

I included Alien primarily because it was a landmark in the development of the horror genre. Shawshank Redemption was nothing but derivative. (And I'm not knocking Shawshank Redemption. It was a fine movie. But it didn't really distinguish itself in any way in the sense that a Rashomon or an Alien did.)

However, I wasn't implying that every one of my suggestions was superior to every film on that list, only that there was a clear bias to it which excluded far more noteworthy films. If I had been interested I would have hand-picked the counter-examples better, but my point would have been no less or better served by doing so.

[Cato]

And there's no Kubrick until #39 (Dr. Strangelove). Something is very wrong here.

Agreed. It might be nostalgic; however, 'A Clockwork Orange' was the first cinematic mindfucking I ever received.

[pocaracas]

Interesting...

Alien garnered both critical acclaim and box office success, receiving an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, Saturn Awards for Best Science Fiction Film, Best Direction for Scott, and Best Supporting Actress for Cartwright, and a Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, along with numerous other award nominations. It has remained highly praised in subsequent decades, being inducted into the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress in 2002 for historical preservation as a film which is "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". In 2008 it was ranked as the seventh-best film in the science fiction genre by the American Film Institute, and as the 33rd-greatest movie of all time by Empire magazine.

I included Alien primarily because it was a landmark in the development of the horror genre. Shawshank Redemption was nothing but derivative. (And I'm not knocking Shawshank Redemption. It was a fine movie. But it didn't really distinguish itself in any way in the sense that a Rashomon or an Alien did.)

However, I wasn't implying that every one of my suggestions was superior to every film on that list, only that there was a clear bias to it which excluded far more noteworthy films. If I had been interested I would have hand-picked the counter-examples better, but my point would have been no less or better served by doing so.

And it can also be viewed as a film about a biological entity which is close to perfect in the way it propagates... at least that's what my bio teacher said back in high-school... I still think it has a major flaw: the requirement of a host, but that is somewhat countered by the eggs being lethargic until a possible host comes along...

About that american film institute's list.... http://www.afi.com/10top10/scifi.html

#1 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY
#2 STAR WARS: EPISODE IV - A NEW HOPE
#3 E.T. - THE EXTRA TERRESTRIAL
#4 A CLOCKWORK ORANGE
#5 THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL
#6 BLADE RUNNER
#7 ALIEN
#8 TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY
#9 INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS
#10 BACK TO THE FUTURE

[Gilgamesh]

ITT: What's an opinion?

[thesummerqueen]

Last Boy Scout? Seriously?

Seriously... I must have watched it some 50 times... there was no youtube back then... nor internet... And only some 100 VHS tapes.

Yes, but you watching a movie 50 times or more doesn't make it worthy of inclusion on a list. I've seen Men in Tights over 50 times, and probably the same with Army of Darkness. I think Army of Darkness is a classic, amazing B-flick, but I wouldn't make it a Top 10 of movies you should see for the way they influenced people or cut the edge of cinematography.

I'd have included Lord of the Rings as a whole because WETA basically rewrote entire programs in order to animate the movie, and Peter Jackson and his writing crew completely raised the bar for book-to-screen adaptations (no matter how you feel about The Hobbit). He went on a massive undertaking - writing, shooting, CGI'ing, sets, props, costuming - and managed ALSO to cast nigh-on perfect people for each role. That's the sort of thing I'd expect out of a movie put into the top 10. Something that was crafted - not just some action flick that people really enjoy.

And Temple of Doom sucked ass.

What?! A guy taking the hearts of other guys out while they remained alive sucked ass?! It was a great idea!
Plus: alligators and a minimum of nazis.

No, the movie was fucking bullshit. The female lead was annoying as fuck, the movie played on pretty much every Eastern stereotype you could get, Harrison Ford was far from charming, and I don't give a fuck if there are nazis in a movie if it's well done as a whole.

Honestly, and I know I'm about to get punched virtually for this: Crystal Skull was a better film. While we're being petty about it, it might have only been better because I have the strange Jew-fro hots for Shia LaBeouf, but there you go. When a movie of young Ford is so bad that I don't even have the hots for Ford in it...it's very, very bad.

[pocaracas]

Seriously... I must have watched it some 50 times... there was no youtube back then... nor internet... And only some 100 VHS tapes.

Yes, but you watching a movie 50 times or more doesn't make it worthy of inclusion on a list. I've seen Men in Tights over 50 times, and probably the same with Army of Darkness. I think Army of Darkness is a classic, amazing B-flick, but I wouldn't make it a Top 10 of movies you should see for the way they influenced people or cut the edge of cinematography.

I seem to remember including the disclaimer that my list was based of my viewing frequency... while I was in my early teens...
Oh well...

I'd have included Lord of the Rings as a whole because WETA basically rewrote entire programs in order to animate the movie, and Peter Jackson and his writing crew completely raised the bar for book-to-screen adaptations (no matter how you feel about The Hobbit). He went on a massive undertaking - writing, shooting, CGI'ing, sets, props, costuming - and managed ALSO to cast nigh-on perfect people for each role. That's the sort of thing I'd expect out of a movie put into the top 10. Something that was crafted - not just some action flick that people really enjoy.

I like your thinking, but production values aren't everything.
Titanic and Avatar also had some pretty high production values... does that make them on par with LotR?

What?! A guy taking the hearts of other guys out while they remained alive sucked ass?! It was a great idea!
Plus: alligators and a minimum of nazis.

No, the movie was fucking bullshit. The female lead was annoying as fuck, the movie played on pretty much every Eastern stereotype you could get, Harrison Ford was far from charming, and I don't give a fuck if there are nazis in a movie if it's well done as a whole.

Ah.. the female lead... awesome performance at the table! The rest, yeah, you're right, stereotypical.

Honestly, and I know I'm about to get punched virtually for this: Crystal Skull was a better film. While we're being petty about it, it might have only been better because I have the strange Jew-fro hots for Shia LaBeouf, but there you go. When a movie of young Ford is so bad that I don't even have the hots for Ford in it...it's very, very bad.

Honestly, I've never understood what women see in Ford... he's not even symmetrical. His nose is too large...
Ah, maybe it was the whip, and, when he was Han Solo, he was a good friend with a very furry alien.
A tiny comment on the crystal skull... as far as I'm concerned, just another Indy movie.

[thesummerqueen]

I like your thinking, but production values aren't everything.
Titanic and Avatar also had some pretty high production values... does that make them on par with LotR?

Not at all. I mentioned more than just "production" - you have to have a story and good actors. Titanic rates above Avatar, and Avatar was basically "Dances with Wolves fucks the Smurfs."

Honestly, I've never understood what women see in Ford... he's not even symmetrical. His nose is too large...
Ah, maybe it was the whip, and, when he was Han Solo, he was a good friend with a very furry alien.
A tiny comment on the crystal skull... as far as I'm concerned, just another Indy movie.

Symmetry isn't everything in a man, nor is perfection. Charisma makes up a lot of 'hotness' - otherwise you wouldn't see people drooling over Daniel Craig. Perhaps men are less inclined to recognize this because they - younger men especially - chase an idea of perfection in women that usually leads to too much worry about attaining some impossibly thin, yet hour-glassish figure and little else to call character. I rarely (sometimes, but rarely) hear men talking about how a woman's inner charisma changes the less-than-model-perfect exterior into something highly desirable.

I loved Han Solo because he was a skeptic, and good at what he did - and bore no false modesty on that point - and was more than a touch arrogant. And because, like Leia, I'm rather fond of scoundrels. It wasn't just his smooth skin or muscles or ability with a blaster, but because even as he denied it, when faced with a greater need than his own, he couldn't help giving aid. The scoundrels with the good hearts, they are always the most attractive.

[simplexity]

The list should read as:

1. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
2. Schindler's List

The rest can go in the crap pile.

1. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
2. Schindler's List
3. Braveheart

I'm not sure about the rest. Dark Knight was good but it shouldn't be in the top 10.