The Top 5 List Thread

[CiG]

I've only seen 9 Coen Bros films at this point, also I wouldn't really call myself a fan of O Brother, Where Art Thou? at all TBH.

Might rewatch it soon, maybe something will click this time.

Edit: oh wait, I've seen 10 but for some reason I haven't rated True Grit yet.

 

[no country for old wainds]

i rewatched it thinking the same thing, and it did not.

 

[CiG]

Shame not seeing The Man Who Wasn't There in more lists, great fucking movie.

 

[Bloopy]

The Ladykillers really? Have you seen the original?

No, but I can believe the original's better. I only threw it on the list as being one I found decent enough to watch twice. Most of their films just didn't really click with me. Outcrowd taste...

 

[challenge_everything]

best top 10 list of any director(s) ever?

Not even close for me.

Kubrick, Scorsese, Wilder, Hitchcock, Cronenberg, Kurosawa, Kieslowski, Bunuel spring to mind. Probably haven't seen 10 Bergmans yet but he'd be up there too.

 

[challenge_everything]

No, but I can believe the original's better. I only threw it on the list as being one I found decent enough to watch twice. Most of their films just didn't really click with me. Outcrowd taste...

Alec Guinness is terrifically slimy in the original. It was directed by Alexander McKendrick who isn't too well known these days but he had a really acerbic wit and did some great films like Sweet Smell of Success.

 

[CiG]

Not even close for me.

Kubrick, Scorsese, Wilder, Hitchcock, Cronenberg, Kurosawa, Kieslowski, Bunuel spring to mind. Probably haven't seen 10 Bergmans yet but he'd be up there too.

I'll throw Takeshi Kitano, Takashi Miike, Seijun Suzuku, John Carpenter and Coppola in the hat too.

 

[no country for old wainds]

Shame not seeing The Man Who Wasn't There in more lists, great fucking movie.

i love it so much. frances mcdormand's performance devastates me.

Spoiler

I don’t know where I’m being taken. I don’t know what I’ll find beyond the earth and sky. But I’m not afraid to go. Maybe the things I don’t understand will be clearer there, like when a fog blows away. Maybe Doris will be there. And maybe there I can tell her all those things they don’t have words for here.

Not even close for me.

Kubrick, Scorsese, Wilder, Hitchcock, Cronenberg, Kurosawa, Kieslowski, Bunuel spring to mind. Probably haven't seen 10 Bergmans yet but he'd be up there too.

hitch, lynch, cassavetes and altman are in the running for me. i could see ford and sono coming close too, and PTA when he reaches ten. maybe even coppola would be in the hunt, already an amazing top 5 and there are so many movies of his that tasteful people consider to be underappreciated gems.

 

[CiG]

Michael Mann has also become a firm favourite of mine since rewatching Collateral and watching Heat and Blackhat. Not sure he's a contender for strongest top 10 films though.

 

[no country for old wainds]

same here, and same here. i've only seen eight of his tho

 

[CiG]

I have Ali and Public Enemies in my stack to rewatch, been years since. Actually I think I watched them before I really knew who Michael Mann was (more specifically before I recognized Mann was a director with his own distinct style rather than just a name behind a movie).

I actually watched The Insider last night, it was pretty good, one of the better legal dramas I've seen. Can't wait for his new one with Hugh Jackman.

 

[CiG]

David Lean's final run of films (from 1957's The Bridge on the River Kwai to 1984's A Passage to India) is probably my favourite run of films ever.

 

[challenge_everything]

I'll throw Takeshi Kitano, Takashi Miike, Seijun Suzuku, John Carpenter and Coppola in the hat too.

I need to expand my Asian cinema vocabulary.

hitch, lynch, cassavetes and altman are in the running for me. i could see ford and sono coming close too, and PTA when he reaches ten. maybe even coppola would be in the hunt, already an amazing top 5 and there are so many movies of his that tasteful people consider to be underappreciated gems.

Good call on Lynch and (eventually) PTA. Ford has a lot of humdrum stuff. I count 6 good Coppola films then end list.

I think Wilder is criminally underappreciated these days. This top 10 is amazing.
Double Indemnity/Sunset Blvd/The Apartment/Some Like It Hot/Ace in the Hole/One Two Three/The Lost Weekend/Witness for the Prosecution/Stalag 17

 

[challenge_everything]

David Lean's final run of films (from 1957's The Bridge on the River Kwai to 1984's A Passage to India) is probably my favourite run of films ever.

Agreed! Coppola's 70s run comes close.

 

[CiG]

I count 7 Coppola films I'd confidently place in a list, but there's a shitload of his earliest and latest stuff I haven't even seen.

 

[challenge_everything]

I'm not aware of any of those being "underappreciated gems" though. I've literally never heard of any of his films before The Godfather.

 

[CiG]

Before The Godfather the one I've seen is The Rain People, which would be in my Ford list btw. Try tracking it down.

Edit:

Current favourite 5 films from the 2010's:

1. Mad Max: Fury Road (I don't see much chance of this one being toppled)
2. The Raid
3. Blackhat
4. Green Room
5. Only God Forgives

Ironically, Brawl in Cell Block 99 toppled Fury Road.

 

[no country for old wainds]

Ford has a lot of humdrum stuff.

yeah but we were talking about great top 10s rather than great overall bodies of work.

TWIXT is an underappreciated coppola gem, i love that movie. the others that have got a lot of raves in my movie circles are RUMBLE FISH, ONE FROM THE HEART, THE OUTSIDERS, YOUTH WITHOUT YOUTH, DRACULA, PEGGY SUE GOT MARRIED, THE COTTON CLUB, TETRO, TUCKER, THE RAIN PEOPLE. i've seen none of these though.

wilder's just too obvious for me to consider him a great these days. his movies always contain hints of something more complex/ambiguous but he's usually too busy being self-consciously clever and snarky to really bring that out. i've only seen the first five you listed though, and i do still love DOUBLE INDEMNITY at least, there's a purity and economy to that one.

 

[CiG]

RUMBLE FISH, THE OUTSIDERS, DRACULA, THE COTTON CLUB, THE RAIN PEOPLE.

I've seen these ones and really dig them all, except Dracula which is cool but not in the caliber of the rest IMO. Womenz seem to absolutely love it though, all my femchums rave about it, which I do get since it's basically peak gothromantic vampire cinema along with Interview with a Vampire.

 

[challenge_everything]

wilder's just too obvious for me to consider him a great these days. his movies always contain hints of something more complex/ambiguous but he's usually too busy being self-consciously clever and snarky to really bring that out. i've only seen the first five you listed though, and i do still love DOUBLE INDEMNITY at least, there's a purity and economy to that one.

The others are worth checking out.

One Two Three is a very witty Cold War screwball political comedy which pre-empts the likes of Armando Iannucci.

The Lost Weekend is the complete other side of the spectrum, an unusually dark (for its time) depiction of alcoholism. You might criticise this for obviousness now but as a product of its era it's better than great.

Witness for the Prosecution is classic countroom whodunnit based around unreliable witnesses and Charles Laughton absolutely chews up the role of the curmudgeonly QC.

Stalag 17 is a tier down so that's for fans only.