Jules Winfield

Sight and Sound released their lists today and I thought it would be interesting to talk about it. Do you agree? Disagree? How many of these movies have you seen?

The Critics’ Top 10
1. Vertigo (Hitchcock, 1958)
2. Citizen Kane (Welles, 1941)
3. Tokyo Story (Yasujiro Ozu, 1953)
4. The Rules of the Game (Jean Renoir, 1939)
5. Sunrise: a Song for Two Humans (F.W. Murnau, 1927)
6. 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968)
7. The Searchers (John Ford, 1956)
8. Man with a Movie Camera (Dziga Vertov, 1929)
9. The Passion of Joan of Arc (Carl Th. Dreyer, 1927)
10. 8 ½ (Federico Fellini, 1963)

The Directors’ Top 10
1. Tokyo Story (Ozu, 1953)
2 2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick, 1968)
2 Citizen Kane (Welles, 1941)
4. 8 ½ (Fellini, 1963)
5. Taxi Driver (Scorsese, 1976)
6. Apocalypse Now (Coppola, 1979)
7. The Godfather (Coppola, 1972)
7. Vertigo (Hitchcock, 1958)
9. Mirror (Tarkovsky, 1974)
10. Bicycle Thieves (De Sica, 1948)

Both lists contain some really great films. Vertigo is arguably Hitchcock's best so nice to see it on top. I have yet to see Tokyo Story but have been interested in checking it out for some time now. I love, love Bicycle Thieves and rarely see it in top ten lists so it's cool to see that as well. So, what do you say?

bluetoast

Once again Make Way for Tomorrow gets the shaft in favor of Tokyo Story. No love!

Supermallet

I guess I should see Tokyo Story, although I cannot fathom it being better than 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Rockmjd23

Is this the first time that Battleship Potemkin didn't make the list?

Mondo Kane

My fav's in order:
2001: A Space Odyssey
Taxi Driver
The Godfather
Sunrise: a Song for Two Humans
Apocalypse Now
The Passion of Joan of Arc
Bicycle Thieves
Citizen Kane
Tokyo Story
Man with a Movie Camera (Isn't this only about a half-hour long?)
Vertigo
8 ½
The Searchers
The Rules of the Game
Mirror (Ivan's Childhood is the only Tarkovsky film I've liked so far)

PopcornTreeCt

Pfft... Vertigo isn't even Hitchcock's best film.

JumpCutz

2001? Where's The Good,The Bad and The Ugly? Those critics and directors obviously don't know what they're talking about.

Dr. Mantle

Holy shit. Citizen Kane was actually dethroned on both lists! And it's all the way at number three on the directors' list.

Great to see 2001 so high. I don't think it was even on the directors' list last time. Pretty sure they went with Dr. Strangelove.

I think Mirror is Tarkovsky's weakest film, but I'm glad he's on there somewhere.

I bet Coppola is having a good day. Only person with two films on the list. (And he's still above ground!)

Sondheim

Well, it would be pretty hard to claim that any of these aren't classics. There's nothing particularly original or unexpected here, but that's always the case with these lists that are a compilation of the lists of hundreds of different professionals.

I personally like or love every film on the list, with particular favorites being the Hitchcock, Ozu, Murnau, Tarkovsky, Vertov, Kubrick, and Renoir (so pretty much half the list would rank among my personal top 50 or so.)

I personally think they chose the best Hitchcock, and the second best Tarkovsky (the first being Andrei Rublev, which is #26 on the full list.)

Also, as much as I appreciate and enjoy Citizen Kane, it's kind of nice to see something take its place.

Here's the critics' top 50 for anyone interested.

Coral

Hard to argue with anything on that list really... although while I liked Vertigo, I thought it was overrated.

Finisher

Vertigo is Hitchcock's most visual film and directors/writers respond to the obsession theme. Personally, I'd go with Rear Window or Strangers on a Train for Hitchcock.

Andrei Rublev, Solaris and Stalker should trump The Mirror, but it's good to see Tarkovsky on the directors' list.

PopcornTreeCt

I like seeing Scorsese up there for Taxi Driver.

Ash Ketchum

THE MIRROR is the only one I haven't seen.

I'm annoyed that no Kurosawa is there. Certainly SEVEN SAMURAI could have displaced either MAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA or PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC from the first list and APOCALYPSE NOW from the second list.

Sondheim

The Vertov and Dreyer are great, amazing films and they should stay, but I agree that the lack of Kurosawa is unfortunate.

Finisher

11. Battleship Potemkin - Sergei Eisenstein, 1925 (63 votes)
12. L’Atalante - Jean Vigo, 1934 (58 votes)
13. Breathless - Jean-Luc Godard, 1960 (57 votes)
14. Apocalypse Now - Francis Ford Coppola, 1979 (53 votes)
15. Late Spring - Ozu Yasujiro, 1949 (50 votes)
16. Au hasard Balthazar - Robert Bresson, 1966 (49 votes)
17. Seven Samurai - Kurosawa Akira, 1954 (48 votes)
17. Persona - Ingmar Bergman, 1966 (48 votes)
19. Mirror - Andrei Tarkovsky, 1974 (47 votes)
20. Singin’ in the Rain - Stanley Donen & Gene Kelly, 1951 (46 votes)
21. L’avventura - Michelangelo Antonioni, 1960 (43 votes)
21. Le Mépris - Jean-Luc Godard, 1963 (43 votes)
21. The Godfather - Francis Ford Coppola, 1972 (43 votes)
24. Ordet - Carl Dreyer, 1955 (42 votes)
24. In the Mood for Love - Wong Kar-Wai, 2000 (42 votes)
26. Rashomon - Kurosawa Akira, 1950 (41 votes)
26. Andrei Rublev - Andrei Tarkovsky, 1966 (41 votes)
28. Mulholland Dr. - David Lynch, 2001 (40 votes)
29. Stalker - Andrei Tarkovsky, 1979 (39 votes)
29. Shoah - Claude Lanzmann, 1985 (39 votes)
31. The Godfather Part II - Francis Ford Coppola, 1974 (38 votes)
31. Taxi Driver - Martin Scorsese, 1976 (38 votes)
33. Bicycle Thieves - Vittoria De Sica, 1948 (37 votes)
34. The General - Buster Keaton & Clyde Bruckman, 1926 (35 votes)
35. Metropolis - Fritz Lang, 1927 (34 votes)
35. Psycho - Alfred Hitchcock, 1960 (34 votes)
35. Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce 1080 Bruxelles - Chantal Akerman, 1975 (34 votes)
35. Sátántangó - Béla Tarr, 1994 (34 votes)
39. The 400 Blows - François Truffaut, 1959 (33 votes)
39. La dolce vita - Federico Fellini, 1960 (33 votes)
41. Journey to Italy - Roberto Rossellini, 1954 (32 votes)
42. Pather Panchali - Satyajit Ray, 1955 (31 votes)
42. Some Like It Hot - Billy Wilder, 1959 (31 votes)
42. Gertrud - Carl Dreyer, 1964 (31 votes)
42. Pierrot le fou - Jean-Luc Godard, 1965 (31 votes)
42. Play Time - Jacques Tati, 1967 (31 votes)
42. Close-Up - Abbas Kiarostami, 1990 (31 votes)
48. The Battle of Algiers - Gillo Pontecorvo, 1966 (30 votes)
48. Histoire(s) du cinéma - Jean-Luc Godard, 1998 (30 votes)
50. City Lights - Charlie Chaplin, 1931 (29 votes)
50. Ugetsu monogatari - Mizoguchi Kenji, 1953 (29 votes)
50. La Jetée - Chris Marker, 1962 (29 votes)

GoldenJCJ

No Fight Club, no The Matrix? What the hell kind of "best of..." list is this?! No Dark Knight?!? Fuck this list!!!1!!!!1!!

Autotelik

I don't remember the list from 2002, but might go hunting in my garage to dig it out. Only 2 movies since yr 2000 to make the top 50: In The Mood For Love, and Mulholland Drive.

inri222

- IMO Vertigo, 8 1/2 & 2001 are the best films by their respective directors and are all great choices.

- Good to see something by one of the greatest directors of the last 30 years : Béla Tarr's Sátántangó at 35.

- I would have put these 3 in the top 10 : Au hasard Balthazar - Robert Bresson / L’avventura - Michelangelo Antonioni / Stalker - Andrei Tarkovsky

But which ones would I have removed? It is very difficult when you have so many great choices.

MoviePage

I've seen all the films from both lists except Man with a Movie Camera. I'm not a big fan of trying to rank art, but it seems like a pretty good list of titles to me. I will say that I'm very pleased to see The Passion of Joan of Arc on there, as it is one of my all-time favorites.

Giles

guess I should see:

Sunrise: a Song for Two Humans
Man with a Movie Camera

no 'City of God' - tsk tsk...

Boba Fett

The inclusion of "The Searchers" on that list makes me instantly tune it out: a beautifully shot film marred by one of the worst actors to grace the big screen.

Rypro 525

i actually didn't realize until today how big and prestigious this list was. I figured it was a normal list or a regular internet site list

Mondo Kane

What might be even more shocking is that a lot of of those films are also listed in Entertainment Weekly's 100!
http://www.filmsite.org/ew100.html

JumpCutz

That list. Some great choices, but ....the following rankings are ridiculous.

16) Star Wars
20) E.T.
46) Aliens
67) Airplane!
75) Tootsie

Astrofan

One could quibble, but the lists are fine. Vertigo is not only Hitchcock's best movie, but it is a true work of art. However Citizen Kane is still the best movie ever made and needs to be at the top. Taxi Driver has some real problems--Goodfellas is Scorsese's best movie. I cannot see listing anything by Coppola in a top ten, but I could see The Conversation on a top 50 list. I know the world always puts 8 1/2 at the top, but for me it's La Dolce Vita.

The missing shockers--The Seventh Seal and The Seven Samurai.