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The top 10 will include some quotes from critics.
10. Crimes and Misdemeanors
Director: Woody Allen
Points: 1039
Year rank: #2 of 1989
Voters: 9
Fans: BillAdama (3), Henrik (6), antonius (9), RockyRaccoon (10), Petri (24), Michel (25)
Haters: Stephan (58)
Comment(s): I keep seeing all these films from the 30s and 40s where somebody does something evil and then destroys himself with guilt. This film is the answer to that, this is how it really works, and has a very cynical matter of fact discussion about the mechanisms behind our moral memory. 'If Hitler had won we'd have a very different understanding of the Holocaust'. (BillAdama)
Critic: The movie generates the best kind of suspense, because it's not about what will happen to people—it's about what decisions they will reach. (Roger Ebert)
9. Down By Law
Director: Jim Jarmusch
Points: 1044
Year rank: #2 of 1986
Voters: 10
Fans: Greg (2), Michel (4), Petri (7), John (10), Gillingham (10), beefsupreme (19)
Haters: BillAdama (61), Antonius (66)
Comment(s): The beginning of the film with Tom Waits' music in the background is superb. (Gillingham)
Critic: The excitement comes from the realization that we are seeing a true film maker at work, using film to create a narrative that couldn't exist on the stage or the printed page of a novel. (Vincent Canby)
I think we have made a great list!
Should we or should we not guess the order of the top films?
Feel free to venture some guesses as to the order of the top 6.
8. Hotaru no haka [Grave of the Fireflies]
Director: Isao Takahata
Points: 1067
Year rank: #1 of 1988
Voters: 9
Fans: Henrik (2), Petri (3), BillAdama (7), Stephan (10), Gillingham (13), Antonius (21)
Haters: Greg (75)
Comment(s): Despite the fact that not many animated films made it through, two of the ones that did, did exceptionally well. (Stephan)
Critic: An emotional experience so powerful that it forces a rethinking of animation. (Roger Ebert)
7. Once Upon A Time in America
Director: Sergio Leone
Points: 1084
Year rank: #5 of 1984
Voters: 9
Fans: Stephan (1), Gillingham (7), John (12), BillAdama (12), Antonius (13), Greg (14), Henrik (19)
Haters: None
Comment(s): The only film in the top 10 that wasn’t either #1 or #2 of its year; #5 in fact. (Stephan)
Critic: Leone is less interested in arousing an audience's easier emotions than in presenting, at a dispassionate distance, the horror of two men warily walking toward each other on a tightrope suspended above the snake pit of their , deepest compulsions. (Richard Corliss)
No way Blade Runner is going to win!
6. Himmel
5. Elephant
4. Blade
3. Paris
2. Shining
1. Cocktail
The most surprising film near the top for me is Down By Law. I guess I just don't connect with Jarmusch's style at all.
I agree Blade Runner is probably going to win. It's awesome Wenders and Lynch did so well.
@Petri
You saw Turin Horse? Jealous.
Have you seen Family Nest?
6. The Shining
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Points: 1089
Year rank: #1 of 1980
Voters: 10
Fans: Petri (2), Henrik (3), Gillingham (4), Michel (9), Greg (16), beefsupreme (21), Antonius (25)
Haters: None
Comment(s): Both predictions were pretty far off with regard to The Shining. (Stephan)
Critic: As a ghost story and adaptation of the Stephen King novel, it's largely a failure. On the other hand, as an example of directorial bravura and as a study of madness and the unreliable narrator, it's a brilliant success. (James Berardinelli)
5. The Elephant Man
Director: David Lynch
Points: 1095
Year rank: #2 of 1980
Voters: 9
Fans: Antonius (3), Michel (5), RockyRaccoon (8), Henrik (10), Petri (11), Stephan (12)
Haters: None
Comment(s):
Critic: What we eventually see underneath this shell is not 'the study in dignity' that Ashley Montagu wrote about, but something far more poignant, a study in genteelness that somehow suppressed all rage. (Vincent Canby)
I wouldn't quite agree with that take on The Elephant Man. I don't see it as a study on dignity and genteelness (Maybe a little of a study on the former and satire on the latter), but more a study on the superego, and the limits of the superego when our intellectual decency conflicts with our natural reflexive aversion.
As viewers we know he's a human being and removed from the situation, that he deserves to be treated as an equal, but meeting him in real life, could we really suppress our disgust? Most people couldn't, and if they do, the writing is on the wall that it will not last forever.
Agreed, not the greatest quote I used, but it's a little thought provoking at least.
4. Paris, Texas
Director: Wim Wenders
Points: 1110
Year rank: #1 of 1984
Voters: 10
Fans: Michel (1), Henrik (4), BillAdama (8), Greg (11), Gillingham (14), Petri (17), John (18), Stephan (18), antonius (18)
Haters: beefsupreme (37)/44
Comment(s): Very well shot and the music by Ry Cooder is great. (Gillingham)
The monologue where he talks to his wife through the glass might be one of the most beautiful moments in cinema. (BillAdama)
Critic: One of the few films that has captured the beauty of the American southwest in all its rolling desert glory. (Christopher Long)
3. Der Himmel über Berlin [Wings of Desire]
Director: Wim Wenders
Points: 1131
Year rank: #1 of 1987
Voters: 8
Fans: Michel (3), Greg (4), Petri (5), BillAdama (5), Gillingham (6), Antonius (7)
Haters: Stephan (71)
Comment(s): A really beautiful take on Catholic mythology, which shows you what it means to be human by showing what it means not to be human. An eternity of dreary bliss and aesthetic blankness. (BillAdama)
Wenders manages to get #4 and #3, and with only two films in the final that’s a spectacular average of 3.5. The only director with two or more films who can beat that (or make it a tie) is Lynch, who placed 5th and still has 1 film left. (Stephan)
Critic: Wings of Desire enthralls me, and it sends me back to my life a richer person, glad to be alive, looking about at the mundane and the everyday with new appreciation. (Jeffrey Overstreet)
Sorry for the delay, had to help my girlfriend move yesterday. Finally, in an incredibly close race, the top 2:
2. Blue Velvet
Director: David Lynch
Points: 1171
Year rank: #1 of 1986
Voters: 11
Fans: Gillingham (1), BillAdama (1), John (3), Antonius (5), Michel (6), Henrik (13), Stephan (17), RockyRaccoon (23)
Haters: None
Comment(s): Creepy, but beautiful film. Lynch’s comeback after big letdown Dune. He excels in films like this as he would prove during the rest of his career. (Gillingham)
I saw this film first right at the height of my Twin Peaks obsession, before I really started watching art films. Really a thematically beautiful film, questioning the efficacy of idealism when there are truly evil individuals in the world. (BillAdama)
And so, both Lynch and Wenders have a 3.5 average; they could be considered the shared winners of the ‘best director’ award, although Mr. Scott may have something to say about that. (Stephan)
Critic: It is a work of fascinating scope and power that rivals any of the most subversive films to reach the screens during the '80s. (James Berardinelli)
1. Blade Runner
Director: Ridley Scott
Points: 1172
Year rank: #1 of 1982
Voters: 10
Fans: Greg (1), Antonius (1), Gillingham (3), Stephan (7), Petri (9), Michel (13), RockyRaccoon (15), BIllAdama (16), beefsupreme (24)
Haters: Henrik (62)
Comment(s): What an atmosphere. A film-noir set in the future, with some beautiful and quite convincing mise-en-scene. Also Dutchman Rutger Hauer's finest moment. The music by Vangelis is great too. (Gillingham)
Blue Velvet was in the lead for a short while after the first few lists, but then overtaken and left behind by Blade Runner. However, through BillAdama and Michel's lists it made a comeback to retake #1 and finally beefsupreme changed that around again. Eventually the two films ended up within 1 point of eachother, making this the most exciting race for #1 in the film polls so far. (Stephan)
Critic: This is perhaps the only science-fiction film that can be called transcendental. (Owen Gleiberman)
Lots of movies I have to see !
Great presentation as usual but well, if Blue Velvet really is the 2nd best movie of the decade, I don't feel like I'm missing that much. Don't get me wrong, I liked it and found it very interesting, even in the things I did not like which I think is great, but also well, explicity tells the issues : there were things I did not like.
Blade Runner was my 62th out of 62...gotta see it a third time!
Thanks Stephan, great presentation!
I haven't seen 6 of the top 10. I've had Blade Runner for a long time and haven't watched it.
It used to be the case that watching these older movies wasn't a very good experience because of VHS or crappy DVD transfers but now that things are getting released in HD whether it's Bluray or streaming, it's easier to go back and watch these movies as they were intended to be seen. I like the look of this list even though I've only seen about 1/3 of it. It seems more up my alley than a few other 80's lists I've looked at.
Thanks for the great show Stephan!
I have to go all the way down to 29 to find a movie I haven't seen yet. (And my brother got me Amadeus for Christmas)
I'm surprised Blade Runner won by only one point, it's pretty much cemented as one of the most popular movies of all time this side of The Godfather.
I like it a lot more now that I focus on the questions of freedom and the nature of the soul. When I first saw it years ago I didn't like it as much because I think some of the action scenes are badly choreographed. (Like, there are multiple times the replicants have him dead to rights, but instead of finishing him off they jump off him or something and give him a free shot at them.)
Are we still planning to do that bracket game with the top 8 from 00s, top 8 from 90s, top 8 from 80s, and top 8 from 70s after the 70s poll?
Nice job. I guess I've got some watching to catch up on. I haven't seen about 30 of these movies, including 7 in the top 20.
Great job Stephan!
Wonderful top 10. I think my list wasn't very different from the final list, as you can see my name very often in the first three places of the top-10 films fans.
Thanks Stephan!
The top 6 is great.
I thought Brazil would have more fans (or less haters...).
And I'll try again to watch some Bela Tarr's movies.
Thanks everyone, it's been a pleasure. I am definitely planning to do some sort of 'grand final' with the winners of the decade polls, but I was thinking we should perhaps go on into the years before the '70s.
Results for every year and the finals are available here.
See you in the '70s everyone!