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So The Sunday Mail put together a list of the 50 movies you need see before you die.

http://www.sundaymail.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=17431935&method=full&siteid=64736&headline=50-films-to-see-before-you-die--name_page.html

I love a list and I love compairing my taste with someone else’s taste so how many of them have you seen and which titles should be on the list and which shouldn’t?

1 Apocalypse Now
2 The Apartment
3 City of God
4 Chinatown
5 Sexy Beast
6 2001: A Space Odyssey
7 North by Northwest
8 A Bout de Souffle
9 Donnie Darko
10 Manhattan
11 Alien
12 Lost in Translation
13 The Shawshank Redemption
14 Lagaan: Once Upon A Time in India
15 Pulp Fiction
16 Touch of Evil
17 Walkabout
18 Black Narcissus
19 Boyzn the Hood
20 The Player
21 Come and See
22 Heavenly Creatures
23 A Night at the Opera
24 Erin Brockovich
25 Trainspotting
26 The Breakfast Club
27 Hero
28 Fanny and Alexander
29 Pink Flamingos
30 All About Eve
31 Scarface
32 Terminator 2
33 Three Colours: Blue
34 The Royal Tenen-baums
35 The Ladykillers
36 Fight Club
37 The Searchers
38 Mulholland Drive
39 The Ipcress File
40 The King of Comedy
41 Manhunter
42 Dawn of the Dead
43 Princess Mononoke
44 Raising Arizona
45 Cabaret
46 This Sporting Life
47 Brazil
48 Aguirre: The Wrath of God
49 Secrets and Lies
50 Badlands

I’ve seen 39 of these films and I have to say some of them I have no desire to ever see again.

How the hell is Secrets and Lies on here?  Same with Three Colors: Blue when everyone knows that Three Colors: Red is the best of the lot.

Manhunter is horrible.  Why not Silence of the Lambs?  It’s 1000% times better.  Same with King of Comedy. 

Lost in Translation is ok but a must see film?  Nope...no way…

Geez.  I have only seen eleven of those.

This may sound cheesy, but I think Forrest Gump should be added to the ranks.  It is a great movie, and I have never heard anyone say they disliked it.

I just thought of The Wizard of Oz! That should definitely be on the list!

Forest Gump?
No offense, but that movie was written by a computer after they input everything that makes a movie successful.
Bleah.
Though to be fair I loved the book, and I hated how they changed it.

1 Apocalypse Now
4 Chinatown
5 Sexy Beast
6 2001: A Space Odyssey
7 North by Northwest
10 Manhattan
11 Alien
12 Lost in Translation
13 The Shawshank Redemption
15 Pulp Fiction
18 Black Narcissus
20 The Player
26 The Breakfast Club
27 Hero
33 Three Colours: Blue
34 The Royal Tenen-baums
36 Fight Club
41 Manhunter
43 Princess Mononoke
44 Raising Arizona
45 Cabaret
47 Brazil

22 out of 50.  I think as long as it has Sexy Beast on it that high, I’m o.k. with it but there are some really weird things on this list.  Ladykillers?  Manhunter? 

I’d throw in Silence or Mann’s Heat before Manhunter (which I do like.)

Seven Samuria?  The Seventh Seal?  Those should be up there.  I’d also add in Philadelphia Story and Lawrence of Arabia.

Stefan - 28 July 2006 04:09 PM

1 Apocalypse Now
4 Chinatown
6 2001: A Space Odyssey
9 Donnie Darko
11 Alien
12 Lost in Translation
13 The Shawshank Redemption
15 Pulp Fiction
18 Black Narcissus
19 Boyzn the Hood
23 A Night at the Opera
24 Erin Brockovich
25 Trainspotting
26 The Breakfast Club
27 Hero
29 Pink Flamingos
31 Scarface
32 Terminator 2
34 The Royal Tenen-baums
36 Fight Club
38 Mulholland Drive
41 Manhunter
42 Dawn of the Dead
43 Princess Mononoke
44 Raising Arizona
47 Brazil

26. more than half. Ok, cool.
But “Hero"… do they mean the one with Dustin Hoffman and Geena Davis, or the cool one with Jet Li?

The Player especially if it’s the one with Tim Robbins in it shouldn’t be on anyone’s top 50 list. It’s just a horrible horrible movie. I understand it’s a parody of Hollywood but it wasn’t entertaining.

1 Apocalypse Now
3 City of God
4 Chinatown
5 Sexy Beast
6 2001: A Space Odyssey
7 North by Northwest
9 Donnie Darko
10 Manhattan
11 Alien
12 Lost in Translation
13 The Shawshank Redemption
14 Lagaan: Once Upon A Time in India
15 Pulp Fiction
16 Touch of Evil
19 Boyzn the Hood
20 The Player
22 Heavenly Creatures
23 A Night at the Opera
24 Erin Brockovich
25 Trainspotting
26 The Breakfast Club
27 Hero
29 Pink Flamingos
30 All About Eve
31 Scarface
32 Terminator 2
33 Three Colours: Blue
34 The Royal Tenen-baums
35 The Ladykillers
36 Fight Club
37 The Searchers
38 Mulholland Drive
40 The King of Comedy
41 Manhunter
42 Dawn of the Dead
43 Princess Mononoke
44 Raising Arizona
47 Brazil
49 Secrets and Lies
50 Badlands

The original Ladykillers is great.  Not that crap remake. 

I’m still surprised that the Dustin Hoffman Gena Davis film Hero is on here.  That movie was really bad.

Julesy - 28 July 2006 04:47 PM

Geez.  I have only seen eleven of those.

This may sound cheesy, but I think Forrest Gump should be added to the ranks.  It is a great movie, and I have never heard anyone say they disliked it.

Now if you were talking about Forest Hump...I could see that making the must see list.

Stefan - 29 July 2006 09:46 AM

I’m still surprised that the Dustin Hoffman Gena Davis film Hero is on here.  That movie was really bad.

I’m hoping that they’re talking about the Jet Li Hero too.  If not, the list is complete crap.

You know what.  I bet they are talking about that one.  I totally forgot about it.

About The Player, I’d pick either Nashville or MASH as an Altman film over The Player.  Heck, I’d probably throw Gosford Park on there before The Player.

6 2001: A Space Odyssey
11 Alien
15 Pulp Fiction
20 The Player
26 The Breakfast Club
31 Scarface
32 Terminator 2
36 Fight Club

6 and 11 shouldn’t count because I haven’t seen all of them.

SPS1000 - 29 July 2006 09:33 AM

The Player especially if it’s the one with Tim Robbins in it shouldn’t be on anyone’s top 50 list. It’s just a horrible horrible movie. I understand it’s a parody of Hollywood but it wasn’t entertaining.

I agree.  I know critics fawned all over it for its “insider” point of view, but it’s a major bore-a-thon.

Stefan - 28 July 2006 04:09 PM

So The Sunday Mail put together a list of the 50 movies you need see before you die.

http://www.sundaymail.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=17431935&method=full&siteid=64736&headline=50-films-to-see-before-you-die--name_page.html

I love a list and I love compairing my taste with someone else’s taste so how many of them have you seen and which titles should be on the list and which shouldn’t?

1 Apocalypse Now
2 The Apartment
3 City of God
4 Chinatown
5 Sexy Beast
6 2001: A Space Odyssey
7 North by Northwest
8 A Bout de Souffle
9 Donnie Darko
10 Manhattan
11 Alien
12 Lost in Translation
13 The Shawshank Redemption
14 Lagaan: Once Upon A Time in India
15 Pulp Fiction
16 Touch of Evil
17 Walkabout
18 Black Narcissus
19 Boyzn the Hood
20 The Player
21 Come and See
22 Heavenly Creatures
23 A Night at the Opera
24 Erin Brockovich
25 Trainspotting
26 The Breakfast Club
27 Hero
28 Fanny and Alexander
29 Pink Flamingos
30 All About Eve
31 Scarface
32 Terminator 2
33 Three Colours: Blue
34 The Royal Tenen-baums
35 The Ladykillers
36 Fight Club
37 The Searchers
38 Mulholland Drive
39 The Ipcress File
40 The King of Comedy
41 Manhunter
42 Dawn of the Dead
43 Princess Mononoke
44 Raising Arizona
45 Cabaret
46 This Sporting Life
47 Brazil
48 Aguirre: The Wrath of God
49 Secrets and Lies
50 Badlands

Pretension, thy name is the Sunday Mail. 

There are some great movies on this list, but there are major head scratchers on here too, at least for me.  I’ll never understand the fascination people have with 2001 and David Lynch.

First, 2001.  Now, don’t get me wrong; 2001 revolutionized the way audiences thought about the way science fiction should look.  It was a special effects milestone.  But it’s a screenwriting millstone.  It’s just a plotless, boring film.  In Kubrick’s defense, I actually read 4 of these books trying to figure out what’s the heck was really going on, and Arthur C. Clarke didn’t give him much in the way of a solid story to go on.  As cool as 2001 looks, it’s just a terrible piece of story telling.  The notion of a character study performed on a computer might have been some antidote to the slow, plodding pace, but that storyline is underdeveloped like most everything else here.  The ending resolves nothing whatsoever and doesn’t leave you caring any more about Bowman or HAL than you did when you walked in the theater.

David Lynch.....where to begin?  The master of the nearly plotless mess.  Despite the fact that I love a good lesbian scene as much as the next guy, Mulholland Drive was terrible.  It was literally about nothing, but who’s surprised by that?  Remember Eraserhead?  How about Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me?  Or Blue Velvet?  Or Wild at Heart?  Talk about storyectomies.  And Lynch should never be forgiven for managing to completely destroy Dune.  What is it about Lynch that captivates?  His movies are so obtuse, only he can understand them, and I’m not even sure of that.  It’s not that I’m too big of a philistine to understand them; there’s just nothing to understand.  It’s a series of images, then Fin. 

I think that videotape from The Ring was actually directed by David Lynch.  Maybe if you could die from watching his stuff critics would eventually stop singing his praises.  Or go extinct.